A spokesman for the Economic Community of West African States told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that there had been over 1800 terrorist attacks in West Africa during the first half of 2023.
Salafist Islamist groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda have been expanding their reach in the Sahel region of Africa, and are now carrying out major insurgencies across the region. Six million people have been displaced across the region and around 42 million people may soon be needing food aid, according to the official.
West Africa has been hit by a series of coups recently, with the governments of Burkina Faso and Mali falling. In Niger is still unclear if an ongoing coup has succeeded.