Pope appeals for peace and development efforts in the Sahel region
By Linda Bordoni and Nathan Morley
Speaking during the Regina Coeli address on Sunday, Pope Leo XVI expressed concern for the volatile situation in the Sahel region that stretches across the southernmost latitudes of North Africa between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea.
“I have learned with concern of the news regarding the increase in violence in the Sahel region, particularly in Chad and in Mali, where recent terrorist attacks have struck,” the Pope said, speaking on the day after a meeting in the Vatican with representatives of the John Paul II Foundation for the Sahel.
He assured his prayers for the victims, expressed his closeness to all who suffer, and voiced an appeal for sustained efforts to promote peace.
“I hope that every form of violence may cease, and I encourage every effort for peace and development in that beloved land", the Pope said.
In addition to its ecological and climatic significance as it marks the transition zone between the more humid Sudanian savannas to its south and the drier Sahara to the north, the region is a geopolitical space long shaped by internal instability and external strategic competition.
The climate crisis continues to cause frequent shortages of food and water, and government corruption has given rise to coups, insurgencies, and terrorism.
Instability, terrorism, humanitarian crisis
Violent extremist groups are expanding their reach across the Sahel, deepening a long-running humanitarian emergency and raising concerns about wider instability on the continent.
The belt of territory from Senegal to Eritrea has struggled for decades with overlapping security, political and climate pressures.
Since the 1960s, weak state institutions, economic decline and worsening environmental stress have fueled cycles of conflict that routinely spill across borders.
In Mali, more than 30 people were killed on Thursday in two attacks in the country’s center, according to local officials.
The assaults, claimed by the al‑Qaida‑linked JNIM, follow a wave of coordinated strikes on the ruling junta earlier this month.
A network of West African reporters tracking Sahel security, WAMAPS, said preliminary counts indicated more than 50 villagers may have died, with others unaccounted for.
International counterterrorism missions have receded in recent years, and regional cooperation has weakened, creating openings for armed groups to consolidate control in rural areas.
The Sahel remains a major corridor for migrants traveling from sub‑Saharan Africa toward North Africa and Europe.
Analysts warn that renewed violence could sharply increase displacement, adding pressure on coastal states and European destinations.
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