Building Peace by Formalizing Gold Mining in the Central Sahel

May 23, 2023 | Jorden de Haan and Aly Diarra
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The Central Sahel is increasingly deemed the new epicenter of terrorism, accounting for 35 percent of global terrorism deaths in 2021. Yet as the situation in the region continues to deteriorate, artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) both persists and proliferates.

In both Burkina Faso and Niger, terrorist organizations are reported to benefit both directly and indirectly from the gold trade. After terrorist activity spilled over from Mali in 2018, this activity expanded rapidly. Strategies used by these groups range from directly controlling mine sites to ambushing and extorting revenue from both artisanal and industrial miners.

Unfortunately, Mali’s gold supply chains are a far cry from being secured. The declared artisanal gold legally exported from Mali in 2021 thus constitutes only 13 percent of the gold originating from Mali that was imported into the UAE. The scale of this informality in the gold trade further underscores the risk posed by non-state armed groups in Mali. They could capture more ASGM supply chains if they continue to expand toward southwestern Mali and into the wider Sahel and coastal West Africa regions, which host significant ASGM activity.

The evidence is clear. It is time for the full peacebuilding benefits of ASGM formalization to be recognized. Next, formalization must be integrated into national, regional, and global peace and security frameworks—and especially into programs targeting fragile regions such as the Central Sahel.