Second conference in the Arab University Lecture Series, given by Raouf Farrah, senior analyst for the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC).

In recent years, the Sahel region has undergone major political and security upheavals, marked by a series of military coups, a dramatic increase in extremist violence, the withdrawal of French operations (Barkhane) and of the UN mission in Mali (MINUSMA), as well as growing geopolitical instability. These complex dynamics are the result of an intricate interplay of political, economic, social and environmental factors, both at the national and regional levels. These structural changes are often studied through the lens of their impact on their ‘Western partners’, now more marginalised than ever in a region increasingly coveted by new foreign actors (Russia, Turkey, Morocco, Algeria, Iran).

Raouf Farrah's lecture will focus on the human, security and geopolitical implications of these developments for the Maghreb states and the border regions that link them. He will also examine the rise of sovereignty in the Central Sahel and what it means for countries such as Mali and Niger.

The operation by the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) to ‘reconquer’ northern Mali from 2023, with the support of the Russian Wagner Group, and the continuing instability in northern Niger have created immediate challenges for the Maghreb states, in particular Algeria and Libya. These dynamics are also fuelling rivalries and repositioning among Maghreb countries rooted in longstanding political competition and fragmentation. Farrah will also briefly address the development of smuggling and illicit economies, in particular hashish smuggling and trafficking, in the central Sahara-Sahel region.

Organised in collaboration with the Degree in International Relations of the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), the Degree in International Studies of the University of Castilla La Mancha (UCLM) and the Master in European Union and the Mediterranean: Historical, Cultural, Political, Economic and Social Basis of the UCM. Laurence Thieux, lecturer in International Relations and Global History at the UCM, who will introduce the speaker, and Bárbara Azaola, lecturer in Arab and Islamic Studies at the UCLM, and Alfonso Casani, lecturer in Political Science and Administration at the UCM, will take part in the subsequent debate, which will be moderated by Olivia Orozco, Casa Árabe's Training and Economics Coordinator.

The conference is available on our YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/live/h2m9a6a3jmA?feature=share

Further information: https://en.casaarabe.es/eventos-arabes/show/aula-arabe-universitaria-6