UPSC Prelims 2024 Question:

Statement-I:  There is instability and a worsening security situation in the Sahel region.

Statement-II: There have been military takeovers/coups d'état in several countries of the Sahel region in the recent past.

Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

Explanation: 

The Sahel region is spanning the area from Senegal to Eritrea, situated between the Sahara to the north and the African tropics to the south, the Sahel region has long faced severe, complex security and humanitarian crises.  

• Sahel have experienced violent extremism due to the confluence of weak and illegitimate governance, economic decline, and the worsening effects of climate change. Violence, conflict, and crime have surged over the last decade, transcending national borders and posing significant challenges to countries both in and outside the region. So, statement 1 is correct.
  
  
• The epicenters of violence and humanitarian disaster are in the Liptako-Gourma and Lake Chad Basin subregions.
  
  
• Liptako-Gourma is in the central Sahel, in the borderlands of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. Current instability is associated with the collapse of the Libyan state in 2011, which led to the proliferation of weapons and armed fighters in the region. So, statement 2 is correct.
  
  
• Violent extremism in the Lake Chad Basin at the intersection of Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria prevailed in the same period with the reemergence of Boko Haram in northern Nigeria.
  
  
• In 2023, security forces in Mali and Burkina Faso faced allegations of civilian massacres.
  
  

Therefore, option (1) is the correct answer.

Subject: Polity | International Relations