Barcelona Center for International Affairs

Notes internacionals CIDOB, núm. 44

Laurence Aïda Ammour

By redrawing the geostrategic map of the Maghreb and Sahel, Gaddhafi’s fall and elimination has disrupted old strategic balances, caused a psychological shock to numerous communities who are faithful to the Libyan leader, and generated socio-economic repercussions that are being harshly felt.

The power vacuum at the core of the old geopolitical structure has direct consequences on the Sahel as a whole, and both domestically and transnationally as well. The region, already afflicted by a number of security challenges such as drug, arms or human trafficking, and the intensification of uprisings and terrorist attacks by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), now faces unexpected risks emerging from the Libyan crisis, notably in the border regions of the Saharo-Sahelian countries.

>> English version: The Sahara and Sahel after Gaddhafi (pdf download)

>> Version française: L’après-Gaddhafi au Sahara-Sahel  (pdf download)

Laurence Aïda Ammour, Associate researcher at CIDOB and at Les Afriques dans le Monde to the Bordeaux Institute for Political Sciences

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