Seminar « Urbanisation and Conflicts: Prospects for the Sahel, West and North Africa»

On the margins of the 9^th Contact Group of the Coalition for the Sahel, the issue of spatial dynamics of insecurity between cities and rural areas in the Sahel and more broadly in North and West Africa was the focus of a seminar led by the Director of the OECD Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC), Mr. Laurent Bossard.

Using the SWAC’s recent report on urbanisation and conflict in West and North Africa and the University of Kent’s report on rural crises, financed by the United Kingdom and presented by Dr. Yvan Guichaoua, participants discussed the impact of these phenomena on the future of the Sahel. They focused in particular on making recommendations on the development of tools to assist public decision-making, on the implementation of stabilisation policies, particularly in terms of the protection of civilians, and on the effectiveness of measures to combat armed violence.