Land and water grabs, militarized development and agrarian resistance in the Sahel

Abstract

The Sahel region of West Africa is experiencing a profound political reconfiguration marked by the rise of military governments amidst deepening ecological, economic, and social crises. In this context, the structural dispossession of rural communities - particularly through land and water grabbing - continues to intensify, often justified under the guise of development, counterterrorism, and national security. These processes have placed immense pressure on peasant and agrarian communities, whose livelihoods are intrinsically tied to access to and control over natural resources. Yet, this moment of rupture also opens contradictory spaces: while military regimes often restrict civic and political freedoms, they can also unsettle entrenched power structures and open cracks that movements might tactically exploit.