Sahel

{{Short description|Biogeographical region in Africa}} {{For-multi|the paleocontinent|Sahul|other uses}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}} {{Infobox ecoregion |name = Sahel |image = {{mim|image2=Sahel Scene - Dori - Sahel Region - Burkina Faso.jpg|image1=Mud Mosque - Bani - Sahel Region - Burkina Faso - 02.jpg|caption2=Sahel savanna and its namesake acacias at the beginning of the short summer rainy season|caption1=Throughout the Sahel, rammed earth construction is widespread, as exemplified by this medieval mosque in Burkina Faso.|border=infobox|direction=vertical|total_width=280}} |map = {{Switcher||frameless|Show globe|frameless|Show topographic map|border=infobox|direction=vertical|total_width=300}} |map_caption = The Sahel region in Africa: a belt up to {{convert|1000|km|mi|-1|abbr=on}} wide that spans {{convert|5400|km|mi|-1|abbr=on}} from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea |biogeographic_realm = Afrotropical |biome = Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands |animals = Camels, horses |bird_species = Migratory birds |mammal_species = Oryx, gazelles, African buffalo |border = East Saharan montane xeric woodlands |border1 = East Sudanian savanna |border2 = Ethiopian montane forests |border3 = Inner Niger Delta |border4 = Lake Chad flooded savanna |border5 = South Saharan steppe and woodlands |border6 = Sudd flooded grasslands |border7 = West Saharan montane xeric woodlands |border8 = West Sudanian savanna |area = 3,053,200 |country = Algeria |country1 = Burkina Faso |country2 = Cameroon |country3 = Cape Verde |country4 = Central African Republic |country5 = Chad |country6 = Eritrea |country7 = The Gambia |country8 = Mali |country9 = Mauritania |country10 = Niger |country11 = Nigeria |country12 = Senegal |country13 = South Sudan |country14 = Sudan |elevation = {{convert|200|and|400|m|ft|sp=us}} |rivers = Senegal, Niger, Nile |climate = Tropical savanna climates (Aw), Hot Semi-arid (BSh), Hot Desert (BWh) }}

The '''Sahel region''' ({{IPAc-en|s|ə|ˈ|h|ɛ|l}}; {{ety|ar|''ساحل'' ({{transliteration|ar|ALA|sāḥil}} ''{{IPA|ar|ˈsaːħil|}}'')|coast, shore}}), or '''Sahelian acacia savanna''', is a biogeographical region in Africa. It is the transition zone between the more humid Sudanian savannas to its south and the drier Sahara to the north. The Sahel has a hot semi-arid climate and stretches across the southernmost latitudes of North Africa between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea. Although geographically located in the tropics, the Sahel does not have a tropical climate.

Especially in the western Sahel, there are frequent shortages of food and water due to its very high government corruption and the semi-arid climate. Nonetheless, the region has sustained very high human birthrates, resulting in a rapid increase in population. In recent times,<ref>{{cite web|title=Violent Extremism in the Sahel {{!}} Global Conflict Tracker|url=https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/violent-extremism-sahel|date=4 September 2025|access-date=3 February 2026|website=www.cfr.org}}</ref> various coups, insurgencies, terrorism<ref name=":0"/> and foreign interventions have taken place in many Sahel countries, especially across former ''Françafrique''.

In addition to its ecological and climatic significance, the Sahel is also considered a geopolitical space, shaped by internal instability and external strategic competition.<ref>Clingendael Institute, "The Sahel’s New Geopolitics", June 2024.</ref><ref>Vision of Humanity, "Democracy vs. Security: The Sahel's Geopolitical Realignment", 25 September 2024.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2025/africa-sahel/russian-terror-military-influence/|title=Crossroads of Conflict|last=Chason|first=Rachel|work=The Washington Post|date=19 February 2025|access-date=3 February 2026}}</ref>

==Etymology== The term "Sahel" is borrowed from the Arabic name for the region, {{lang|ar|الساحل}} ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|al-sāḥil}}''. ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|Sāḥil}}'' literally means "coast, shore",<ref name="OxfordDict">{{cite web|url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Sahel |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803034214/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Sahel|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 August 2012|title=Definition grid different of Sahel (British and World English)|website=Oxford Dictionaries|access-date=10 October 2015}}</ref> which has been explained as a figurative reference to the southern edge of the vast Sahara.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/asystemmodernge01huntgoog |title=A System of Modern Geography |publisher=E. Huntington & Co. |year=1834 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/asystemmodernge01huntgoog/page/n293 287] |quote=sahara ocean of sand.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Sahel dictionary definition – Sahel defined |url=http://www.yourdictionary.com/sahel |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129234644/https://www.yourdictionary.com/sahel |archive-date=29 November 2021 |access-date=30 August 2020 |website=www.yourdictionary.com}}</ref>

The Sahel spans {{convert|5900|km|mi|-1|abbr=on}} from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east, in a belt several hundred to a thousand kilometers (c. 600 miles) wide. It covers an area of {{convert|3,053,200|km2|sqmi|-1|sp=us}}.

Representing a climatic and ecological transition zone with hot semi-desert and steppe conditions, the Sahel region borders the more humid Sudanian savannas to its south and the dry Sahara desert to the north. This ecoregion is also called the '''Sahelian ''Acacia'' savanna''' in honour of its most prominent and very drought tolerant genus of tree.<ref name=wwf>{{WWF ecoregion|name=Sahelian Acacia savanna|id=at0713|access-date=7 December 2009}}</ref>

The topography of the Sahel is mainly flat; most of the region lies between {{convert|200|and|400|m|ft|sp=us}} in elevation. Several isolated plateaus and mountain ranges rise from the Sahel (e.g. Marrah Mountains, Aïr Mountains, Ennedi Plateau), but are designated as separate ecoregions because their flora and fauna are distinct from the surrounding lowlands (e.g. East Saharan woodlands). Annual rainfall varies from around {{convert|abbr=on|100|-|200|mm|in|0}} in the north of the Sahel to around {{convert|abbr=on|700|-|1,000|mm|in|0}} in the south.<ref name=wwf/>

===Flora and fauna=== The Sahel is mostly covered in grassland and savanna, with areas of woodland and shrubland. Grass cover is fairly continuous across the region, dominated by annual grass species such as ''Cenchrus biflorus, Schoenefeldia gracilis'' and ''Aristida stipoides''. Species of acacia are the dominant trees, with ''Acacia tortilis'' the most common, along with ''Senegalia senegal'' and ''Senegalia laeta''. Other tree species include ''Adansonia digitata'', ''Commiphora africana'', ''Balanites aegyptiaca'', ''Faidherbia albida'', ''Borassus aethiopum'', ''Vitellaria paradoxa'', ''Olea europaea'', ''Arbutus unedo'', ''Phoenix canariensis'', ''Hyphaene compressa'', ''Cupressus sempervirens'', ''Quercus coccifera'', ''Quercus suber'', ''Pinus nigra'', ''Populus nigra'', ''Ceratonia siliqua'', ''Salix alba'', ''Afzelia africana'', ''Kigelia africana'', ''Sclerocarya birrea'', and ''Boscia senegalensis''. In the northern part of the Sahel, areas of desert shrub, including ''Panicum turgidum'' and ''Aristida sieberiana'', alternate with areas of grassland and savanna. During the long dry season, many trees lose their leaves and the predominantly annual grasses die.

The Sahel was formerly home to large populations of grazing mammals, including the scimitar-horned oryx ''(Oryx dammah)'', dama gazelle ''(Gazella dama)'', Dorcas gazelle ''(Gazella dorcas)'', red-fronted gazelle ''(Gazella rufifrons)'', the giant prehistoric buffalo ''(Pelorovis)'', and Bubal hartebeest ''(Alcelaphus buselaphus buselaphus)'', along with large predators, such as the African wild dog ''(Lycaon pictus)'', the Northwest African cheetah ''(Acinonyx jubatus hecki)'', the Northeast African cheetah ''(Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii)'', and the lion ''(Panthera leo)''. The larger species have been greatly reduced in number by over-hunting and competition with livestock, and several species are vulnerable (Dorcas gazelle, cheetah, lion and red-fronted gazelle), endangered (Dama gazelle and African wild dog), or extinct (the Scimitar-horned oryx is probably extinct in the wild, and both ''Pelorovis'' and the Bubal hartebeest are now extinct).

The seasonal wetlands of the Sahel are important for migratory birds moving within Africa and on the African-Eurasian flyways.<ref name=wwf/>

===Climate=== [[File:Acacia Trees (24227057806).jpg|thumb|Ennedi Plateau is located at the border of the Sahara and the Sahel]] thumb|right|10 year average precipitation during the summer rainy season (May–September) in the Sahel and adjacent regions The Sahel has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification ''BSh''). The climate is typically hot, sunny, dry and somewhat windy all year long. The Sahel's climate is similar to, but less extreme than, the climate of the Sahara desert located just to the north.

The Sahel mainly receives a low to very low amount of precipitation annually. The steppe has a very long, prevailing dry season and a short rainy season. The precipitation is also extremely irregular, and varies considerably from season to season. Most of the rain usually falls during four to six months in the middle of the year, while the other months may remain absolutely dry. The interior of the Sahel region generally receives between 200 mm and 700 mm of rain yearly. A system of subdivisions often adopted for the Sahelian climate based on annual rainfall is as follows: the Saharan-Sahelian climate, with mean annual precipitation between around 100 and 200 mm (such as Khartoum, Sudan), the strict Sahelian climate, with mean annual precipitation between around 200 and 700 mm (such as Niamey, Niger) and the Sahelian-Sudanese climate, with mean annual precipitation between around 700 and 900 mm (such as Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso). The relative humidity in the steppe is low to very low, often between 10% and 25% during the dry season and between 25% and 75% during the rainy season. The least humid places have a relative humidity under 35%.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Abiodun |first=T. |last2=Akanbi |first2=J. |date=2020 |title=Environmental Problems, Insecurity In The Sahel Region And Implications For Global Security |journal=Ibadan Journal of Peace & Development |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=165–180 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349553954}}</ref> Annual rain levels were measured to fall between 20 and 40% in a span of two decades from 1931 to 1960 and 1968–1990; the levels recovered slightly in the mid-1990s in some areas, especially in central and eastern areas as far as Senegal.{{sfn|Khatim Kherraz|Nabil Ben Khatra|2019|p=8}}

The Sahel is characterized by constant, intense heat, with an unvarying temperature. The Sahel rarely experiences cold temperatures. During the hottest period, the average high temperatures are generally between {{convert|36|and|42|°C}} (and even more in the hottest regions), often for more than three months, while the average low temperatures are around {{convert|25|to|31|°C}}. During the "coldest period", the average high temperatures are between {{convert|27|and|33|°C}} and the average low temperatures are between {{convert|15|and|21|°C}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Global Surface Temperature |url=https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature |website= Global Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet |publisher=NASA |access-date=26 August 2022 }}</ref> Everywhere in the Sahel, the average mean temperature is over {{convert|18|°C}}.

The Sahel has a high to very high sunshine duration year-round, between 2,400 hours (about 55% of the daylight hours) and 3,600 hours (more than 80% of the daylight hours). The sunshine duration in the Sahel approaches desert levels, and is comparable to that in the Arabian Desert, for example, even though the Sahel is only a steppe and not a desert. The cloud cover is low to very low. For example, Niamey, Niger has 3,082 hours of bright sunshine; Gao, Mali has near 3,385 hours of sunshine; Timbuktu, Mali has 3,409 sunny hours, and N'Djamena, Chad has 3,205 hours of sunlight.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.niamey.climatemps.com/|title=Niamey Climate Niamey Temperatures Niamey Weather Averages|website=www.niamey.climatemps.com|access-date=3 February 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.timbuktu.climatemps.com/|title=Timbuktu Climate Timbuktu Temperatures Timbuktu Weather Averages|website=www.timbuktu.climatemps.com|access-date=3 February 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gao.climatemps.com/|title=Gao Climate Gao Temperatures Gao Weather Averages|website=www.gao.climatemps.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.n-djamena.climatemps.com/|title=N'Djamena Climate N'Djamena Temperatures N'Djamena Weather Averages|website=www.n-djamena.climatemps.com|access-date=3 February 2026}}</ref>

===Recent droughts=== {{Further|Sahel drought}} For hundreds of years, the Sahel region has experienced frequent droughts and megadroughts. One megadrought lasted from 1450 to 1700, 250 years.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Brahic|first=Catherine|title=Africa trapped in mega-drought cycle|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16967-africa-trapped-in-megadrought-cycle.html|magazine=New Scientist}}</ref> There was a major drought in the Sahel in 1914 caused by annual rains far below average, leading to large-scale famine. From 1951 to 2004, the Sahel experienced some of the most consistent and severe droughts in Africa.<ref>{{cite web|last=Scholl|first=Adam|title=Map Room: Hidden Waters|url=http://www.worldpolicy.org/journal/winter2012/map-room|publisher=World Policy Journal|access-date=17 December 2012|archive-date=30 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211030012853/http://worldpolicy.org/2013/09/12/map-room-anonymous/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The 1960s saw a large increase in rainfall in the region, making the northern drier region more accessible. There was a push, supported by governments, for people to move northwards. When the long drought period from 1968 through 1974 began, grazing quickly became unsustainable and large-scale denuding of the terrain followed. Like the drought in 1914, this led to a large-scale famine, but this time somewhat tempered by international visibility and an outpouring of aid. This catastrophe led to the founding of the International Fund for Agricultural Development.{{Citation needed|date=February 2026}}

====2010 drought==== {{Main|2010 Sahel famine}} Between June and August 2010, famine struck the Sahel.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/africa/drought%2bthreatens%2bafrican%2bhumanitarian%2bcrisis/3697427.html|title=Drought threatens African humanitarian crisis|last=Miller|first=Jonathan|publisher=Channel 4 News|date=1 July 2010|access-date=3 February 2026}}</ref> Niger's crops failed to mature in the heat, 350,000 faced starvation, and 1,200,000 were at risk of famine.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jun/21/millions-face-starvation-west-africa|location=London|work=The Guardian|title=Millions face starvation in west Africa, warn aid agencies|first=Henry|last=Foy|date=21 June 2010|access-date=3 February 2026}}</ref> In Chad the temperature reached {{convert|47.6|°C|°F|1|abbr=on}} on 22 June in Faya-Largeau, breaking a record set in 1961 at the same location. Niger tied its highest temperature record set in 1998, also on 22 June, at 47.1 °C in Bilma. That record was broken the next day, when Bilma hit {{convert|48.2|°C|°F|1|abbr=on}}. The hottest temperature recorded in Sudan was reached on 25 June, at {{convert|49.6|°C|°F|1|abbr=on}} in Dongola, breaking a record set in 1987.<ref name="MastersNOAA">{{cite web|last=Masters|first=Jeff|title=NOAA: June 2010 the globe's 4th consecutive warmest month on record|url=http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1544|work=Weather Underground|publisher=Jeff Masters' WonderBlog|access-date=21 July 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100719104107/http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1544|archive-date=19 July 2010}}</ref> Niger reported on 14 July that diarrhoea, starvation, gastroenteritis, malnutrition and respiratory diseases had sickened or killed many children. The new military junta appealed for international food aid and took serious steps to call on overseas help.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.france24.com/en/20100625-reporters-niger-famine-horizon-harvests-sahara-junta-coup-appeal-international-aid-mamadou-tandja|title=Niger: famine on the horizon?|publisher=France 24|date=14 July 2010|access-date=25 October 2012}}</ref> On 26 July, the heat reached near-record levels over Chad and Niger,<ref name="underground.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1516|title=wonder Blog: Weather Underground|publisher=Wonder-ground.com|access-date=28 July 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100627220406/http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1516|archive-date=27 June 2010}}</ref> and in northern Niger about 20 people reportedly died of dehydration by 27 July.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

===Desertification and soil loss=== [[File:Camels in Chad.png|thumb|right|Camels at a watering hole in the semi-arid Sahel in Chad]] The Sahel region faces environmental issues that are contributing to global warming. If the change in climate in the Sahel region "is not slowed-down and desertification possibly reversed through sustainable practices and any form of reforestation, it is only a matter of time before countries like Niger lose their entire landmass to desert due to unchecked unsustainable human practices."<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web|url=https://www.morganorioha.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Managing-Climate-Reality-in-Sub-Sahara_Africa-2.pdf|title=Managing Climate Reality in Sub-Sahara Africa|publisher=Morganorioha.com|date=September 2018|author=Orioha, M. K.|access-date=19 January 2019|archive-date=11 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711222217/https://www.morganorioha.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Managing-Climate-Reality-in-Sub-Sahara_Africa-2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{rp|9}} Over-farming, over-grazing, over-population of marginal lands, and natural soil erosion have caused serious desertification of the region.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://desertificationb.tripod.com/id3.html|title=Causes and Effects of Desertification|access-date=19 June 2010|archive-date=2 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202224726/http://desertificationb.tripod.com/id3.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Schmidt, Laurie J. (18 May 2001). [http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/DustBowl/ "From the Dust Bowl to the Sahel"]. NASA.</ref> This has affected shelter construction, making it necessary to change the used materials. The Woodless Construction project was introduced in Sahel in 1980 by the Development Workshop, achieving since then a high social impact in the region.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sior.ub.edu/jspui/cris/socialimpact/socialimpact00509|title=Training and employment of locals. [Social Impact]. WConstruction. The promotion of Woodless Construction in West Africa (1980–2017).|website=SIOR, Social Impact Open Repository}}</ref> A major initiative to combat desertification in the Sahel region via reforestation and other interventions is the Great Green Wall.

Major dust storms are a frequent occurrence as well. During November 2004, a number of major dust storms hit Chad, originating in the Bodélé Depression.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dust Storm in the Bodele Depression|date=December 2004|url=http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=14230|publisher=NASA|access-date=19 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100316175906/http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=14230|archive-date=16 March 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> This is a common area for dust storms, occurring on average on 100 days every year.<ref>{{cite web|last=Di Liberto|first=John|date=13 July 2018|title=Dust from the Sahara Desert stretches across the tropical Atlantic Ocean in late June/early July 2018|url=https://www.climate.gov/news-features/event-tracker/dust-sahara-desert-stretches-across-tropical-atlantic-ocean-late|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230802170246/https://www.climate.gov/news-features/event-tracker/dust-sahara-desert-stretches-across-tropical-atlantic-ocean-late|archive-date=2 August 2023|access-date=26 February 2024|website=climate.gov}}</ref> [[File:Village Telly in Mali.jpg|thumb|Sahel region of Mali]] On 23 March 2010, a major sandstorm hit Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, and inland Sierra Leone. Another struck in southern Algeria, inland Mauritania, Mali and northern Ivory Coast<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.eosnap.com/?tag=sand-storm|title=Earth Snapshot • Sand Storm|access-date=18 June 2010|archive-date=29 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429234702/http://www.eosnap.com/?tag=sand-storm|url-status=dead}}</ref> at the same time.

Following the drought period of the 1970s and 1980, however, the Sahel began to experience increased rainfall.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://adaptation.ei.columbia.edu/content/re-greening-sahel|title=Re-Greening of the Sahel|publisher=Columbia University|access-date=27 October 2024}}</ref> This may be due to global warming, which can cause changes that may result in changes in large-scale weather patterns, such as increased stronger monsoons, in turn caused by a warmer Atlantic Ocean.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Pausata|first=Francesco S.R. |date=March 2020|title=The Greening of the Sahara: Past Changes and Future Implications|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590332220301007|journal=One Earth|volume=2|issue=3|pages=235–250|doi=10.1016/j.oneear.2020.03.002|bibcode=2020OEart...2..235P}}</ref> Warming of the Mediterranean Sea may also be a factor.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Biasutti|first=Michela|date=27 June 2016|title=What brings rain to the Sahel?|journal=Nature Climate Change|volume=6|issue=10|pages=897–898|doi=10.1038/nclimate3080|bibcode=2016NatCC...6..897B}}</ref>

===Protected areas=== Protected areas in the Sahel include Ferlo Nord Wildlife Reserve in Senegal, Sylvo-Pastoral and Partial Faunal Reserve of the Sahel in Burkina Faso, Ansonga-Ménake Faunal Reserve in Mali, Tadres Reserve in Niger, and Waza National Park in Cameroon.<ref>{{cite web|last=Luke|first=Daramola|date=7 February 2022|title=SERIES 2 {{!}} Rising tensions in the Sahel|url=https://theinformant247.com/series-2-rising-tensions-in-the-sahel/|access-date=3 February 2026|website=The Informant247}}</ref>

==Culture== [[File:Danse de peuls avec les bœufs.jpg|thumb|Fulani herders in Mali]]{{Expand section|date=February 2025}} Traditionally, most of the people in the Sahel have been semi-nomads, farming and raising livestock in a system of transhumance. The difference between the dry north with higher levels of soil nutrients and the wetter south with more vegetation is exploited by having the herds graze on high-quality feed in the north during the wet season, and trek several hundred kilometers to the south to graze on more abundant, but less nutritious, feed during the dry period.{{Citation needed|date=July 2013}}

In Western Sahel, polygamy and child marriage are common.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://bixby.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/potts_2013_oasis_crisis_in_the_sahel.pdf|title=Crisis in the Sahel|access-date=2013-04-09|archive-date=11 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711222205/http://bixby.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/potts_2013_oasis_crisis_in_the_sahel.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Female genital mutilation is also practiced across the Sahel.<ref name="bixby.berkeley.edu">{{cite web|url=http://bixby.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/potts_2013_oasis_crisis_in_the_sahel.pdf |title=Archived copy|access-date=5 June 2017|archive-date=11 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711222205/http://bixby.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/potts_2013_oasis_crisis_in_the_sahel.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicef.org/wca/|title=UNICEF West and Central Africa|website=www.unicef.org}}</ref>

===Music=== Blues historians and historians of African-American music, such as Paul Oliver and Samuel Charters, have suggested that the essential elements of the blues originated in the Sahel region of West Africa, brought over by Africans via the slave trade.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.kosmosjournal.org/kj_article/desert-blues-the-music-goes-round-in-circles/|last=Grass|first=Randall|title=Desert Blues - The Music Moves in Circles|journal=Kosmos Journal|volume=22|issue=2}}</ref> The African slaves brought to South America and the Caribbean were largely from percussion-based musical cultures in southern, coastal West Africa (like southern Nigeria), as well as Central African and Bantu-speaking parts of Africa, whose musical cultures lacked many elements that would become characteristic of the blues.<ref>{{cite web |title=The African roots of blues music (the blues scale) |url=https://adamhudson.org/2021/09/15/the-african-roots-of-african-blues-music-the-blues-scale/ |access-date=February 15, 2026}}</ref> In contrast, many of the slaves brought to North America were from the Sahel region and much more familiar with stringed instruments; the banjo evolved from Sahelian string instruments such as the akonting. Charters found that many Sahelian slaves were from Muslim cultures, favouring stringed, melodic, and solo melismatic singing, which differed from the drum-based music of other African regions, who generally favoured drumming and group chants. These traditions—which were sometimes permitted by plantation owners who feared drums—became tools of rebellion, evolving into the blues.

The historian Sylviane Diouf and ethnomusicologist Gerhard Kubik identify Islamic music as an influence on blues music.<ref name="Curiel">{{cite news|url=http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/08/15/INGMC85SSK1.DTL|title=Muslim Roots of the Blues|work=SFGate|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle|access-date=24 August 2005|first=Jonathan|last=Curiel|author-link=Jonathan Curiel|date=15 August 2004|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050905161734/http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fchronicle%2Farchive%2F2004%2F08%2F15%2FINGMC85SSK1.DTL|archive-date=5 September 2005}}</ref><ref name="Tottoli">{{cite book|last=Tottoli|first=Roberto|title=Routledge Handbook of Islam in the West|date=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317744023|page=322|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KqOQBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA322}}</ref> Diouf notes a striking resemblance between the Islamic call to prayer (originating from Bilal ibn Rabah, a famous Abyssinian African Muslim in the early 7th century) and 19th-century field holler music, noting that both have similar lyrics praising God, melody, note changes, "words that seem to quiver and shake" in the vocal chords, dramatic changes in musical scales, and nasal intonation. She attributes the origins of field holler music to African Muslim slaves who accounted for an estimated 30% of African slaves in America. According to Kubik, "the vocal style of many blues singers using melisma, wavy intonation, and so forth is a heritage of that large region of The Western Sahel that had been in contact with the Islamic world via the Maghreb since the seventh and eighth centuries."<ref name="Curiel"/><ref name="Tottoli"/> There was particularly a significant trans-Saharan cross-fertilization between the musical traditions of the Maghreb and the Sahel.<ref name="Tottoli"/>

The blue note—a hallmark of blues music and rhythm and blues characterised by flattened thirds, fifths, or sevenths—has deep roots in the musical traditions of the Sahel region of West Africa,<ref>{{cite web |last=Floyd, Jr. |first=Samuel |title=The African roots of blues music (the blues scale) |url=https://adamhudson.org/ |website=adamhudson.org |access-date=February 14, 2026}}</ref>and so genres descending from the blues have a strong Sahelian influence. In contrast, the more percussion-based Afro-Brazilian music and Afro-Cuban music have more of a southern, coastal West African, Central African, and Bantu influence, where the blue note is absent; this originated from non-Muslim slaves, who generally favoured drums and group chants. The griot tradition of the Sahel also may have influenced talking blues, and by extension, hip hop.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cuny.manifoldapp.org/read/open-music-commons/section/dd661779-8537-4277-8920-e37c65a69332|title=West African Griots and Musical Personalism|last=Kibbee|first=Brendan|access-date=3 February 2026}}</ref>

==Language== ===French=== French is spoken widely in the Sahel, as many of its nations are former French colonies, with two adopting French as an official language and many more using it colloquially.<ref>{{cite book|last=Brock-Utne|first=Birgit|title=Language and Power: The Implications of Language for Peace and Development|publisher=Mkuki na Nyota Publishers|year=2009|isbn=9789987081462|location=Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania}}</ref> The Sahel includes parts of Senegal, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan and Eritrea, where French is employed to varying degrees.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Grove|first=A. T.|date=November 1978|title=Geographical Introduction to the Sahel|journal=The Geographical Journal|volume=144|issue=3|pages=407–415|doi=10.2307/634817|jstor=634817|bibcode=1978GeogJ.144..407G|issn=0016-7398}}</ref>

====Colonial History==== The French language in the Sahel, as in much of Africa, is a remnant of colonial history and a foreign import to a region characterized by linguistic diversity.<ref>{{citation|last=Mann|first=Gregory|title=French Colonialism and The Making of the Modern Sahel|date=8 December 2021|work=The Oxford Handbook of the African Sahel|pages=35–50|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198816959.013.9|isbn=978-0-19-881695-9}}</ref> After establishing French culture in northern Senegal in the mid-19th century, colonial governors like General Louis Faidherbe pushed deeper into the Sahel's interior, facing opposition from regional leaders. Despite resistance, territory was accrued and placed under the control of lieutenant governors who extracted resources and labor from local populations.<ref>{{cite web|title=French in West Africa|url=https://www.africa.upenn.edu/K-12/French_16178.html|access-date=6 May 2025|website=www.africa.upenn.edu}}</ref> The greater Sahel was subsequently organized into the massive territory of French West Africa in 1895, noted for its linguistic diversity.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Smith|first=Leonard V.|date=31 July 2023|title=French Colonialism: From the Ancien Régime to the Present|journal=French Colonialism|pages=78–82|doi=10.1017/9781108874489.002|isbn=978-1-108-87448-9}}</ref>

====Status of the French language==== French has been the official language of most Sahel countries at various points in their history, but the trend of removing its official status has gained momentum since the end of French military intervention in the region in 2022. Since then, the governments of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have stripped French from being an official language, punctuating a broader theme of the Sahel's self-isolation from Paris.<ref>{{cite news|date=23 May 2024|title=The end of an era for the French language?|work=The Independent|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/french-language-colonial-africa-b2486607.html|last=Hidri|first=Sghaier|access-date=6 May 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240523085648/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/french-language-colonial-africa-b2486607.html|archive-date=23 May 2024|url-status=live}}</ref>

Although there is evidence of its use in nearly every Sahel country, research suggests that French is more often a ''Lingua franca'' of business among the elite and educated classes than a conduit of practical everyday dialogue.<ref>{{cite news|date=7 April 2019|title=Why the future of French is African|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47790128|access-date=6 May 2025}}</ref>

West African and Sahel loanwords have entered the lexicon of modern standard French, usually in the context of vernacular or slang elocution. This trend is mostly understood by the wave of African migrants to France since the end of the colonial era, but has intensified since the explosion of the youth population of Africa. Sahel loanwords are challenging the historic rigidity of the French language and its corresponding cultural norms.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Peltier|first1=Elian|last2=Bashizi|first2=Arlette|last3=Morales|first3=Hannah Reyes|date=12 December 2023|title=How Africans Are Changing French — One Joke, Rap and Book at a Time|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/12/world/africa/africa-french-language.html|access-date=6 May 2025|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

====Linguistic Specificities==== Code-switching and linguistic blending is extremely common among French speakers in the Sahel, like other regions known for their linguistic diversity. Loanwords and phonetic irregularities derived from local languages have permeated Sahel French:

*Overt influence of English and even Chinese words in Burkinabè French, such as ''enjoy'' "take pleasure/enjoy" and ''chao''/''mao'' "old." *''Ligidi'' is a Mooré loanword meaning "money."<ref name=":2">{{cite book|title=Manuel des francophonies|date=21 September 2017|publisher=De Gruyter|doi=10.1515/9783110348217|isbn=978-3-11-034821-7|editor-last=Reutner|editor-first=Ursula}}</ref> *''C' nekh'' comes from the French expression ''c'est bon'' but replaces ''bon'' with the Wolof word ''nekh'', meaning "good" or "pleasant." *The phoneme /y/ is pronounced more closely to /i/ by most French locutors in the Western Sahel. *The apical trill pronunciation of /r/, once common in metropolitan France, continues in West Africa despite the more common use of the uvular trill pronunciation by standard French speakers.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Boula de Mareüil|first1=Philippe|last2=Rouas|first2=Jean-Luc|last3=Yapomo|first3=Manuela|date=27 August 2011|title=In search of cues discriminating West-african accents in French|journal=Interspeech 2011|location=ISCA|publisher=ISCA|pages=725–728|doi=10.21437/interspeech.2011-280}}</ref> *Less phonetic variation exists between the vowels /ø/, /ə/, and /e/ among French speakers in Burkina Faso and Niger; /e/ characterizes the majority of these pronunciations.<ref name=":2"/>

==History== ===Early agriculture=== Around 4000 BC, the climate of the Sahara and the Sahel started to become drier at an exceedingly fast pace. This climate change caused lakes and rivers to shrink significantly and caused increasing desertification. This, in turn, decreased the amount of land conducive to settlements and caused migrations of farming communities to the more humid climate of West Africa.<ref>{{cite book|editor-first=Patrick K.|editor-last=O'Brien|title=Oxford Atlas of World History|year=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|pages=22–23}}</ref>

===Sahelian kingdoms=== {{Main|Sahelian kingdoms}} {{Further|Trans-Saharan trade|Islamization of the Sudan region}} thumb|1905 depiction of ethnic groups in the Sahel The larger Sahelian kingdoms emerged from 750 AD and erected several large cities in the Niger valley region, including Timbuktu, Gao and Djenné.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Chirikure|first=S.|title=Precolonial Metallurgy and Mining across Africa|date=26 February 2018|encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History|doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.148|isbn=978-0-19-027773-4}}</ref>

The kingdom of Alodia also known as Alwa was a Christian Nubian Kingdom in the Eastern Sahel That reached its Zenith from the 9th to 12th century, it was first mention in 569, Its capital Soba located near modern-day Khartoum, Soba was described as a city of "extensive dwellings and churches full of gold and gardens".{{sfn|Zarroug|1991|p=20}} Due to the forest-savanna mosaic to their south, the Sahelian states were hindered from expanding into the north Akan state of the Bono state and Yoruba peoples, as mounted warriors were all but useless in the forests. In addition, the horses and camels were susceptible to the humidity and diseases of the tropics.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hunwick|first=J. O.|title=Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Saʿdi's Taʾrīkh Al-Sūdān Down to 1613, and Other Contemporary Documents|year=2003|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-12822-4}}</ref>

===Colonial period=== The Western Sahel fell to France in the late 19th century as part of French West Africa.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=De Leon|first=Daniel|year=1886|title=The Conference at Berlin on the West-African Question|journal=Political Science Quarterly|volume=1|issue=1|pages=103–139|doi=10.2307/2139304|jstor=2139304|issn=0032-3195}}</ref> Chad was added in 1900 as part of French Equatorial Africa. The French territories in the Sahel were decolonised in 1960.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Chafer|first=Tony|title=Chirac and 'la Françafrique': No Longer a Family Affair |journal=Modern & Contemporary France|volume=13|pages=7–23|year=2005|quote=Since political independence, France has maintained a privileged sphere of influence—the so-called '{{lang|fr|pré carré}}'—in sub-Saharan Africa, based on a series of family-like ties with its former colonies.|doi=10.1080/0963948052000341196|doi-access=free}}</ref>

The Sahel's easternmost region did not fall to the European powers but to the Khedivate of Egypt when it was conquered by Muhammad Ali in the 1820s. By 1899 it came under British rule until granted independence at Egypt's behest in 1956.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Lahav|first=Pnina|date=1 July 2015|title=The Suez Crisis of 1956 and Its Aftermath: A Comparative Study of Constitutions, Use of Force, Diplomacy and International Relations|url=https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/200|journal=Boston University Law Review|volume=95|issue=4|pages=1297|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200319203306/https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1199&context=faculty_scholarship|archive-date=19 March 2020|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Frankema|first1=Ewout|last2=Williamson|first2=Jeffrey|last3=Woltjer|first3=Pieter|date=12 August 2017|title=An Economic Rationale for the West African Scramble? The Commercial Transition and the Commodity Price Boom of 1835–1885|url=https://www.ewoutfrankema.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/RationaleScramble.JEH_.2018.pdf|journal=Journal of Economic History|pages=231–267|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321084120/https://www.ewoutfrankema.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/RationaleScramble.JEH_.2018.pdf|archive-date=21 March 2020|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Crowe|first=Sibyl|title=The Berlin West African Conference, 1884 - 1885|last2=Crowe|first2=Sibyl|year=1970|publisher=Negro Univ. Press|isbn=978-0-8371-3287-7|edition=Reprint [der Ausg.] New York 1942|location=Westport, Conn}}</ref>

===Independence=== {{expand section|date=May 2025}}

==Instability and violence==

===Terrorism=== {{See also|List of Islamist terrorist attacks}} According to ''The Economist'', in recent years the Sahel has become the epicenter of terrorist violence, contributing to 35% of all global deaths from terrorism by 2021, with Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin, an al-Qaeda-affiliated group, identified as the world's fastest-growing terrorist organization.<ref name=":0">{{cite news|title=The world's centre of terrorism has shifted to the Sahel|date=5 March 2022|newspaper=The Economist|url=https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2022/03/05/the-worlds-centre-of-terrorism-has-shifted-to-the-sahel|access-date=3 February 2026|issn=0013-0613|url-access=registration}}</ref> In 2023, fatalities from conflict in the central Sahel rose by 38%, according to data from the research organization Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.<ref name=":1">{{cite news|title=Mauritania is a beacon of stability in the coup-prone Sahel|url=https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/06/27/mauritania-is-a-beacon-of-stability-in-the-coup-prone-sahel|date=27 June 2024|access-date=3 February 2026|newspaper=The Economist|issn=0013-0613}}</ref>

In the wake of the Libyan Crisis beginning in 2011,<ref>{{cite web|title=Violent Extremism in the Sahel|url=https://cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/violent-extremism-sahel|access-date=16 August 2023|website=Council on Foreign Relations}}</ref> terrorist organizations operating in the Sahel, including Boko Haram, Islamic State and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), have greatly exacerbated the violence, extremism and instability of the region.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/sahel|title=Sahel|website=Crisis Group|access-date=23 June 2019}}</ref><ref name="Csis">{{cite web|title=Violent Extremism in the Sahel|url=https://www.csis.org/programs/transnational-threats-project/militancy-and-arc-instability/militancy-and-arc-instability-2|website=CSIS|access-date=23 February 2018|archive-date=19 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210619151052/https://www.csis.org/programs/transnational-threats-project/past-projects/militancy-and-arc-instability/militancy-and-a-2|url-status=dead}}</ref> In March 2020, the United States sent a special envoy for the Sahel region to combat the rising violence from terrorist groups.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-sahel-idUSKBN20T2ZJ|last=Pamuk|first=Humeyra|title=U.S. creates new envoy position to counter rising terrorism in Sahel|date=6 March 2020|work=Reuters|access-date=3 February 2026}}</ref> The Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need has highlighted the fact that the Sahel has become one of the most dangerous regions in the world for Christians.<ref>{{cite web|agency=ACN|date=8 February 2024|title=Sahel: ACN comes to the aid of Christians displaced by terror|url=https://acninternational.org/sahel-acn-comes-to-the-aid-of-christians-displaced-by-terror/|access-date=26 April 2024|website=ACN International}}</ref>

As of 2024, a wave of new military juntas in Africa, favoring Russian mercenaries over Western forces and UN peacekeepers, has intensified violence. This led Mauritania and Chad to disband the G5 Sahel, an anti-terrorism alliance, after the military regimes in Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali withdrew.<ref name=":1"/>

According to the BBC, the Sahel region has become the global epicenter of terrorism, accounting for over half of all terrorism-related deaths, according to the Global Terrorism Index (GTI). In 2023, the region recorded 3,885 fatalities out of a global total of 7,555, marking a nearly tenfold increase since 2019. The surge in extremist violence is attributed to the expansion of groups like the Islamic State's affiliate in the Sahel and Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM), who compete for land and influence while imposing strict Sharia-based governance. Political instability, weak governance, and the rise of military juntas following coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Niger have further fueled the insurgency. These groups sustain their operations through ransom kidnappings, illicit gold mining, and drug trafficking, with the Sahel now a major route for cocaine smuggling from South America to Europe. Meanwhile, governments in the region have shifted their alliances from Western nations to Russia and China, relying on paramilitary groups like the Africa Corps (formerly Wagner) for security assistance, though with limited success. The violence is increasingly spilling into neighboring countries such as Togo and Benin, raising concerns about the broader destabilization of West Africa.<ref>{{cite news|date=5 March 2025|title=Africa's Sahel: The region with more 'terror deaths' than rest of world combined|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp8vyl3j5kko|access-date=3 February 2026|last=Orrell|first=Harriet|website=www.bbc.com}}</ref>

===Human rights issues and political instability=== On 9 July 2020, the United States raised concerns over growing number of allegations of human rights violations and abuses by state security forces in Sahel.<ref>{{cite web|title=Allegations of Human Rights Violations and Abuses in the Sahel|url=https://2017-2021.state.gov/allegations-of-human-rights-violations-and-abuses-in-the-sahel/|access-date=3 February 2026|website=U.S. Embassy in Mauritania}}</ref> The US response came after Human Rights Watch released documents regarding the same on 1 July.<ref>{{cite web|date=1 July 2020|title=Sahel: Atrocities by the security forces are fueling recruitment by armed Islamists|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/07/01/sahel-atrocities-security-forces-are-fueling-recruitment-armed-islamists|access-date=3 February 2026|publisher=Human Rights Watch}}</ref> Reports in March 2022 show militants are expanding and spreading out south of the Sahel.<ref>{{cite news|last=Phillips|first=M. M.|date=2 March 2022|title=Militants Are Edging South Toward West Africa's Most Stable and Prosperous States|work=The Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/sahel-based-militants-edging-south-toward-west-africas-most-stable-and-prosperous-states-11646221800|access-date=3 February 2026}}</ref>

===Other challenges=== thumb|Movement of nomads in Chad The violent herder–farmer conflicts in Nigeria, Mali, Sudan and other countries in the Sahel region have been exacerbated by climate change, land degradation, and rapid population growth.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Nugent|first=Ciara|title=How Climate Change Is Spurring Land Conflict in Nigeria|url=https://time.com/5324712/climate-change-nigeria/|magazine=Time|date=28 June 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=The battle on the frontline of climate change in Mali|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/the-reporters-46921487|work=BBC News|date=21 January 2019|last=Doucet|first=Lyse|access-date=3 February 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Farmer-Herder Conflicts on the Rise in Africa|url=https://reliefweb.int/report/world/farmer-herder-conflicts-rise-africa|publisher=ReliefWeb|date=6 August 2018|access-date=3 February 2026}}</ref> Droughts and food shortages have been also linked to the Mali War.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/in-depth/sahel-flames-Burkina-Faso-Mali-Niger-militancy-conflict|title=The Sahel in flames|date=2019|website=The New Humanitarian|access-date=3 February 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Chris|last=Arsenault|title=Climate change, food shortages, and conflict in Mali|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/04/climate-change-food-shortages-conflict-mali-150426105617725.html|work=Al-Jazeera|date=27 April 2015|access-date=3 February 2026}}</ref>

The Sahel is experiencing more severe weather due to climate change, exemplified by the extreme heatwave of March–April 2024 in Burkina Faso and Mali.<ref>{{cite web|date=18 April 2024|title=Extreme Sahel heatwave that hit highly vulnerable population at the end of Ramadan would not have occurred without climate change |url=https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/extreme-sahel-heatwave-that-hit-highly-vulnerable-population-at-the-end-of-ramadan-would-not-have-occurred-without-climate-change/|access-date=3 February 2026|website=World Weather Attribution}}</ref> This event was intensified by a 1.2 °C global temperature increase from human activities.<ref>{{cite news|date=18 April 2024|title=Africa's Sahel Can Expect More Deadly Heat Waves, Study Shows|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-18/africa-s-sahel-can-expect-more-deadly-heat-waves-study-shows|last=Ibukun|first=Yinka|access-date=3 February 2026|work=Bloomberg}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Sources== *Azam (ed.), ''Conflict and Growth in Africa: The Sahel'', Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (1999), {{ISBN|92-64-17101-0}}. *[http://www.lesoirdalgerie.com/articles/2010/12/19/article.php?sid=110181&cid=41 Lagha CHEGROUCHE, "L'arc géopolitique de l'énergie : le croissant énergétique", in ''Le Soir d'Algérie'', 19/12/2010] {{in lang|fr}} *{{cite book|author1=Khatim Kherraz|author2=Nabil Ben Khatra|year=2019|title=Atlas of Land Cover Maps: Sahel and West Africa|url=https://www.oss-online.org/sites/default/files/2023-03/OSS-BRICKS-Atlas_En.pdf|location=Carthage, Tunisia|publisher=Sahara and Sahel Observatory|isbn=978-9938-933-19-2}}

==Further reading== *{{cite journal|last1=Dai|first1=A.|last2=Lamb|first2=P.J.|last3=Trenberth|first3=K.E.|last4=Hulme|first4=M.|last5=Jones|first5=P.D.|last6=Xie|first6=P.|year=2004|title=The recent Sahel drought is real|journal=International Journal of Climatology|volume=24|pages=1323–1331|url=http://www.mikehulme.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/2004-dai-et-al-sahel.pdf|doi=10.1002/joc.1083|issue=11|bibcode=2004IJCli..24.1323D|s2cid=6955930}}. *{{cite magazine|title=The Stricken Land|first=William S.|last=Ellis|magazine=National Geographic|pages=140–179|volume=172|issue=2|date=August 1987|issn=0027-9358|oclc=643483454}} *[https://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/gpo42121 The Growing Crisis in Africa's Sahel Region: Joint Hearing before the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations and the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa and the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade of the Committee in Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, May 21, 2013] *Moseley, W.G. 2008. "Strengthening Livelihoods in Sahelian West Africa: The Geography of Development and Underdevelopment in a Peripheral Region." Geographische Rundschau International Edition, 4(4): 44–50. [http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1069&context=william_moseley] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111024033/http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1069&context=william_moseley |date=11 November 2014 }} *Simon, L., A. Mattelaer and A. Hadfield (2012) [https://web.archive.org/web/20130601041307/http://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/deve/studiesdownload.html?languageDocument=EN&file=73859 "A Coherent EU Strategy for the Sahel"]. Brussels: European Parliament (DG for External Policies).

==External links== {{Commons category}} *{{WWF ecoregion|name=Sahelian Acacia savanna|id=at0713}} *{{NatGeo ecoregion|id=at0713|name=Sahelian Acacia savanna}}

Category:Sahel Category:Regions of Africa Category:Ecoregions of Africa Category:Ecoregions of the Central African Republic Category:Ecoregions of Chad Category:Ecoregions of Mali Category:Ecoregions of Mauritania Category:Ecoregions of Niger Category:Ecoregions of Senegal Category:Ecoregions of Sudan Category:Flora of North Africa Category:Afrotropical ecoregions Category:Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands Category:Grasslands of Africa