Western presence in the Sahel

France is rallying fellow European nations to join Special Operations Task Force Takuba, to be deployed in the Sahel region of Africa in 2020 to combat Al Qaeda and Islamic State-backed terrorists


2015: Jihadi leader Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahraoui pledges allegiance to Islamic State group, creating ISGS (Islamic State in the Greater Sahara)

2017: Al Qaeda-linked Islamist groups* merge to form JNIM (Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin), led by Tuareg jihadist Iyad Ag Ghali

*Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Ansar Dine, Al-Mourabitoun


United Nations MINUSMA HQ, European Union Training Mission (EUTM) HQ

Nouakchott: HQ of G5 Sahel Joint Force

MAURITANIA
Bamako
Timbuktu
MALI
BURKINA FASO Ouagadougou: U.S. special forces training local security forces
ALGERIA
1998: AQIM emerges out of Algerian Civil War
Dirkou: U.S. Air Base for MQ-9 Reaper drones
UK Chinook helicopters
Gao
Agadez: U.S. Air Base 201
Niamey: U.S. Air Base for MQ-9s
NIGERIA
Madama: French forward operating base, supported by Germany, Italy, Romania
NIGER
CHAD
N’Djamena Operation Barkhane HQ
CAMEROON

Sahel semi-arid region
800km 500 miles


MINUSMA 13,289 troops
G5 Sahel 5,000
France (Barkhane) 4,500
U.S. 800 troops 
EUTM 620 troops


Sources: CSIS, IISS, Jamestown Foundation
Pictures: Getty Images, YouTube
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