Héni Nsaibia on Sahel insurgency expansion as jihadist rivalry intensifies across borders

As global attention shifts to conflicts in the Middle East and beyond in April 2026, violence in the Sahel continues to evolve — with inter-jihadist clashes, geographic expansion, and new tactics reshaping the conflict landscape.

Héni Nsaibia, West Africa Senior Analyst at ACLED, said: 

“For the past five months, the Sahelian jihadist insurgency has continued to evolve and expand geographically. The Al Qaeda-affiliated Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) launched a regionwide offensive across the central Sahel and into Benin in early February 2026. Meanwhile, ISSP began to broadcast its footprint in southwestern Niger by publicly claiming attacks in Dosso and southern Tahoua, areas previously associated with the so-called Lakurawa, while also carrying out high-impact attacks against military installations and airports in the cities of Niamey and Tahoua in January and March, respectively.  In April, the rivalry between the two groups escalated further, with the first reported clashes in Niger and Nigeria.

"Both JNIM and ISSP continue to expand into Niger’s southern border regions and Nigeria, while Benin recorded its deadliest year to date amid rising JNIM activity. It is particularly in the border areas where we see that militant groups have been able to kind of exploit state weaknesses or a relative disinterest towards marginalized populations, especially among pastoralist groups that both JNIM and what today is Islamic State Sahel Province or ISSP has managed to gain a degree of support but also found a recruitment base for their insurgent operations. 

“At the same time, states are escalating military responses. The Nigerien authorities announced the establishment of 'Domol Leydi,' state-backed territorial self-defense units composed of armed volunteers to support military operations. Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, gathered under the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), announced that they had mobilized 15,000 troops for the Unified Force of the Alliance of Sahel States (FU-AES), demonstrating efforts to strengthen military cooperation within the confederation.”