Workshop on the prevention of violent extremism in the Entente area

Preventing violent extremism requires deepening trust between government and citizens and strengthening bonds between border communities.

Date: 2019-05-20 to 2019-05-22

Time: 08:00 to 17:00

Venue: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Second regional technical workshop on the exchange of experiences and analyses for the prevention of violent extremism in the Entente area

Since 2018, violent extremist attacks have spread to Hauts-Bassins, Boucle du Mouhoun, Cascades, Centre-Est and Est regions of Burkina Faso. Although no extremist group has claimed responsibility for them, these attacks are believed to have been carried out by individuals linked to groups operating in the Sahel. The spread of attacks to the aforementioned regions, which border neighboring Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo, has raised concerns about that potential for violent extremism in the Sahel to spill over into the West African coastal area.

This regional workshop followed the first workshop organised in May 2018 in Abidjan by the Conseil de l’Entente in collaboration with the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) of Switzerland and the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Regional Office for West Africa, the Sahel, and the Lake Chad Basin. Organised with the support of the government of Burkina Faso, the second workshop aimed to facilitate inclusive dialogue among a wide range of actors at the state level and within border regions of the Entente area for the purpose of preventing violent extremism.

Participation in this event is by invitation only