Dakar/Brussels — A heavy-handed U.S. approach to fighting terrorism in the Sahel would risk fuelling exactly what it aims to prevent: a rise of Islamist militancy.

Islamist Terrorism in the Sahel: Fact or Fiction? [pdf], the International Crisis Group's latest report, examines the vast region bordering the Sahara Desert and including Mauritania, Mali, Niger, and Chad. It finds that even without firm evidence of a major terrorism threat, the Sahel deserves greater attention, because its vulnerability is clear.

"There are enough indicators -- including the presence of groups seeking to take advantage -- to justify caution and greater Western involvement out of security interests", says Mike McGovern, Crisis Group's West Africa Project Director. "But it has to be done more judiciously than it has been so far".

The countries of the Sahel are among the poorest in the world and face enormous development challenges, with deep problems of governance, security and border control. The prospects for growth in Islamist activity in this largely Muslim region, up to and including terrorism, are delicately balanced. Muslim populations here, as elsewhere, express increasing opposition to Western, especially U.S., policies, and there has been a parallel upsurge in fundamentalist proselytising.

The Sahel is clearly not a hotbed of terrorist activity, but in an era in which weak states are attractive targets for terrorist or criminal organisations, even the evidence of limited entry points by some of those groups merits concern. Washington's initial response to this threat, the Pan Sahel Initiative (PSI), has aimed not only to hunt terrorists in the region, but also to expand a series of programs for training African militaries.

If military aid is the only response, however, the result could be counter-productive, especially if that assistance is overwhelmingly American in origin. Broader Western efforts are needed to tackle the underlying problems of weak governance and poverty.

Fortunately, the Bush administration has approved a new integrated concept, the Trans-Saharan Counter Terrorism Initiative (TSCTI), which has potentially strong economic, social and political components to complement the military. This is welcome, but the real test is whether it is presented to Congress soon and the Congress approves it in the current budget cycle.

U.S. and EU partners should cooperate more on counterterrorism and military capacity-building work in the Sahel. Their goal should be to help all four countries professionalise their armed forces and extend state control over their full territories. All training should include a strong rule of law element. Control, however, is at most half the equation. The Sahelian states need help in bringing services to their distant desert regions.

"Moving away from the rhetoric of the Sahel as simply a 'new front in the War on Terror' is encouraging", says Suliman Baldo, Crisis Group's Africa Program Director. "The region needs a lot more than stronger armies to help it resist extremism".