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Online event - Zoom
Posted on 22 Jul 2025
Cattle rustling is a major driver of conflict and instability in the Sahel and West Africa. The two groups posing the biggest threat in the Sahel are Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate, and Islamic State Sahel Province (IS Sahel). These violent extremist organizations (VEOs) rely on cattle rustling as a stable source of income, using the proceeds to fund their operations and acquire necessary resources like weapons. Beyond this, they embed themselves within the broader livestock economy and, in areas where they hold significant influence, they even protect herder communities from looting by other conflict actors – gaining legitimacy in the process. Even further from their traditional operation’s zone in Mali and Burkina Faso, cattle rustling is still a critical aspect to the conflict. JNIM in particular continues to expand further south, but it is not just territorial expansion – it’s a shift in logistics. JNIM relies on cross-border supply chains, including livestock looting and trafficking, to sustain operations and entrench their presence.
Funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, the ‘Support to the Mitigation of Destabilizing Effects of Transnational Organised Crime’ (M-TOC) project aims at strengthening stability in border regions through targeted measures against transnational organized crime. In a unique integrated approach, this project combines traditional security responses with bottom-up community resilience measures while drawing on a body of research developed on the intersection of illicit economies and instability.
M-TOC is an ECOWAS project commissioned by the German Federal Foreign Office, implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), from 2024 to 2025.
This research is produced in partnership between the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), Equal Access International (EAI) and Acting For Life (AFL). AFL is funded by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs of the Government of France.
