Friday 4 April 2025
11:45 AM – 12:50 PM: Sahel Seminar: Informal discussion on theme of:
“France and la rupture souverainiste au Sahel”
3:30-5:00 PM. Center for African Studies Baraza Lecture:
Ibrahim Yahya Ibrahim - International Crisis Group, Dakar, Senegal
“In Whose Name? Exploring the Multifaceted Jihad in the Sahel”
Saturday 5 April 2025
8:45-9:00: Welcome and introduction: Leonardo Villalón
9:00 – 10:40 Panel I: Ideologies and Identities
Chair:
Alexander Thurston - University of Cincinnati
“Identity and Narrative in the September 2024 Bamako Attacks”
Mahamat Adam - University of Maroua, Cameroon
“Boko Haram in the Islands of Lake Chad: Identity Concerns and Regional Challenges”
Vincent Foucher - National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), Paris, France
“Pathway(s) into jihad? Quranic education and the career of Lake Chad Basin jihadist
militants”
10:40-11:00 Coffee Break
11:00 – 12:30 Panel II: Expansion and Diffusion
Chair:
Jean-Hervé Jezequel - International Crisis Group and Université de Bordeaux
“To grow or not to grow? Questioning Jihadists incentives to expand towards the West
African coast.”
Olivier Walther and David Russell – University of Florida
“Strategies and patterns of Jihadi Diffusion”
12:30: 1:30 (Lunch Break)
1:30 – 3:00 Panel III: Impacts
Chair:
Baba Adou – University of Florida
“Appropriating the sacred: How jihadi insurgencies are reshaping state-religion relation in
the Sahel”
Halimatou Hima – World Bank and Brookings Institution
“The Impact of Insecurity on Learning and education in the Sahel”
3:15 – 5:00 Panel IV: Responding
Chair:
Ibrahim Maïga - International Crisis Group
“Military Regimes Tested by Jihadist Groups: Challenges and Dilemmas”
Amb. Alexander Laskaris - US Dept of State (ret)
“USG responses to the policy challenges of non-state armed groups in the Sahel”