How can West Africa strengthen its collective security against violent extremism?
9 March 2026, 4:30 pm – 5:45 pm
Location: Online / Chatham House, 10 St James's Square, London SW1Y 4LE
Think tank: Chatham House
This event hosted by UK think tank Chatham House explores strategies for rebuilding regional order and security in the Sahel.
From the Lake Chad Basin to western Mali, insecurity in West Africa is profoundly transnational. Yet regional political fragmentation, driven by the recent wave of coups in the central Sahel, has undermined effective cross‑border security cooperation.
With the decline of multilateral frameworks such as the G5 Sahel and the Multinational Joint Task Force, progress on core issues–including the right of hot pursuit, joint military operations, intelligence sharing and tackling illicit finance–has stalled. As the Alliance of Sahel States develops its own security architecture, Mali’s ongoing fuel blockade underscores the unavoidable interdependence of landlocked states with their neighbours.
At this event, the foreign ministers of Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone examine strategies capable of addressing the root causes of rising insecurity. They consider approaches to bilateral relations and practical options to revive West African regionalism, including mechanisms to restore trust and cooperation at a time of acute crisis.
Speakers
Event chaired by Martine Dennis.
Martine Dennis – Founder and Host, Africa Here and Now
HE Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa – Minister for Foreign Affairs, Republic of Ghana
HE Timothy Musa Kabba – Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Republic of Sierra Leone
HE Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar OON – Minister of Foreign Affairs, Federal Republic of Nigeria
