25 November 2025, 17:30 – 19:00 CET, LUISS Parenzo campus, Room 18

Nomadic communities in the central Sahel (Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger) are victims of abuses committed by security forces. At the same time, non-state armed groups—both ethno-nationalist and jihadist—composed partly of Tuaregs and Fulanis, have perpetrated crimes across these three countries, further widening intercommunal divides and weakening social cohesion. The elites of these communities have engaged in the national political arenas in various ways. What role have Tuareg and Fulani elites played in the Sahel conflicts? Which types of elites have been able to maintain dialogue with central authorities and with other communities? How can we explain the failures of past dialogue initiatives? How can we explain the expansion of jihadist groups in the Sahel?

This presentation aims to historicize the relationships between nomadic communities and central authorities through the lens of their elites. To do so, several fieldworks were conducted in Mali and Niger between 2016 and 2017, complemented by numerous meetings held in Europe with Sahelian elites since 2017, as well as ongoing exchanges on social media platforms (WhatsApp, Facebook). Finally, drawing on my research stays in the Algerian Sahara in 2024 and 2025, I will also provide perspectives from Tuareg elites who have taken refuge in the Hoggar region.

About the speaker:

Adib Bencherif is an Assistant Professor at the School of Applied Politics of the University of Sherbrooke. He teaches courses in applied political science and courses on Africa and the Middle East. He is also a research associate at the Sahel Research Group of the Center for African Studies of the University of Florida, as well as at the UNESCO-PREV Chair and at the Centre Francopaix of the Chaire Raoul-Dandurand at UQAM. He obtained his PhD from the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa (2020) and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the Sahel Research Group at the University of Florida (2019-2021). His main research interests focus on security issues, identity issues, and political violence in North Africa and the Sahel. His research focuses on nomadic communities, specifically the Tuareg. An advocate of an applied social science approach, he provides training in political risk analysis and regularly participates in consulting activities to facilitate conflict analysis and resolution and the prevention of radicalization. He has published numerous scientific articles in French and English and co-edited a book on political risk analysis.