Conflicts within and between some countries continue to weigh heavily on movement of persons, either through displacement, or by denying/restricting the movement of persons across international borders. In response to conflict, borders often close altogether, or implement additional and often unilateral and ad-hoc security measures in response to local conflict or political regime change. Ad-hoc military checkpoints along travel routes impede the ease of travel and are a lived reality in different parts of the continent.
In West Africa, over the past few years, regime change through unconstitutional changes in government occurred in Mali, Burkina Faso, Gabon and Niger. Elsewhere, for example in Sudan, conflict has resulted in the displacement of millions of nationals, many of whom have fled across the border to Chad. The evolving security situation along Sudan’s borders with Chad, Eritrea and Ethiopia has drastically curtailed the regular movement of persons. The security situation along the Rwanda–DRC border also remains a concern.
Research notes that from 2022 to 2023, there were surges in conflict in some parts of West Africa. This must be seen in the context of the decline in the security situation in recent years, and the spread of conflict to regions in West Africa previously largely unaffected by such developments. Some of the conflict has also transcended over the northern borders of several West African coastal countries. These developments cumulatively remain concerning impediments for the movement of persons in several regions of Africa, with a real risk of further contagion in the wider region.
The announced decision by Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger to withdraw from ECOWAS, and form the Alliance des États du Sahel (AES), has implications for movement and for trade within the region. Alongside five other ECOWAS Member States, these three countries are also part of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), the common monetary area which heavily supports trade ties and regional economic integration. None of the AES States have direct access to port facilities and rely on their regional neighbours.
13 Radil, S. M. and O. J. Walther (2024). “Identifying local conflict trends in North and West Africa”, Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC/OECD), West African Papers, No. 42, OECD Publishing, Paris.
