Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies

Border regions in the Greater Sahel are often hotspots of protracted conflicts. At the same time, these regions are spaces where people connect socially, culturally and economically and where communities are built. We believe that these border complexes have unique historical and socio-economic characteristics that must be taken into account when developing approaches to dealing with armed groups in these spaces.

To bring the regional dimension to the attention of practitioners and policymakers, we conduct research on regional conflict systems as they emerge in the Lake Chad Basin and the Niger–Chad–Libya–Sudan border region. By examining these regional complexes through a system lens, we are able to gain a deeper understanding of the complex dynamics and interdependencies involved, including the linkages between armed actors, conflict economies, governance systems and socio-economic predispositions.

Our field research is guided by a mixed methods approach, which involves conducting interviews, peer group discussions and quantitative surveys at the community level.

We place particular emphasis on the cooperation with local researchers in Chad, Nigeria and Cameroon, who are closely involved in the research design and implementation. A fellowship programme, which foresees mid-term research residencies of the Sahelian researchers at bicc in Germany and short-term residencies at the United Nations (UN) in New York and the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, forms part of this cooperation. These residencies aim to facilitate the exchange among project partners (AU, UN and bicc) and local researchers, offering insights into the different institutional settings and perspectives as well as networking opportunities with other researchers at bicc and beyond.

Our objective is to distil policy recommendations from our research. These can be utilised by the UN, AU and other national, regional, and local actors to improve regional cooperation and support sustainable peace processes. The research findings generated in the project are published in a variety of publication formats for different audiences, including a peer-reviewed research paper, a comparative study and various policy briefs. Additionally, we also organise events, evidence-based discussions and other knowledge-sharing formats with our partners.