AOAV analyses how NATO’s failure to secure Libya’s vast arms depots after the 2011 intervention helped fuel insurgencies and terror across West Africa.

A quiet war is engulfing West Africa, where improvised explosive devices are devastating communities, dismantling state authority, and threatening to unravel entire nations through a deadly combination of terror, displacement, and institutional collapse.

Alan Bobbett, Executive Director of Resilience for Peace, discusses the challenges facing Fulani communities in West Africa, including displacement, climate change, and discrimination, while advocating for inclusive, community-led solutions.

The proliferation of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) across West Africa, driven by the misuse of dual-use technologies and weak border controls, has created a profound security and humanitarian crisis that demands urgent, coordinated regional and international action.