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The Integrated Border Stability Mechanism
for West Africa

Our Mission

The Integrated Border Stability Mechanism for West Africa is a multilateral coordinating structure for separate but complementary internationally funded capacity-building projects that focus on strengthening Integrated Border Governance and Security in land border areas strategically relevant for regional stability.

Our Objectives

In line with the African Union’s Strategy for a Better Integrated Border Governance (2020), the IBSM mission is to support West African States in promoting regional stability through cooperative border governance and integrated border security. The IBSM is not implementing capacity-building projects itself, but provides important interlinked and complementary services to partners, including but not limited to:

Context

West Africa is increasingly confronted with escalating security challenges coupled with fragile border governance contributing to irregular cross-border movements, transnational organized crime, and terrorism. Violence continues to escalate not only in the Sahel but also spills over into the coastal countries, namely Benin, Cote d’Ivore, Ghana, and Togo.

In this context, 27% of all violent events occur within 50 kilometers of a border, 46% within 100 kilimeters, and 72% within 200 kilometers, of a land border.

For terrorist armed groups and organized crime networks land border areas are of high strategic relevance. They skillfully exploit inadequately controlled borders and lack of coordination between neighboring countries to elude state security forces.

The situation in peripheral border areas is further aggravated by the following factors, which all fuel radicalized narratives spread by violent extremist groups:

Climate risks

High population growth

Limited state capacity

At the same time, over 90% of the migration movements in West and Central Africa remain intra-regional. Cross-border trade, mostly small-scale in nature, constitutes 12% of West-Africa’s trade value, and is thus an important driver for cross-border movements in the region. In this context, the need or unified, consistent, and coordinated action by international and regional stakeholders in support of West African states’ efforts to secure and stabilize vulnerable land border areas has never been more urgent.

Our Thematic Areas

IBSM’s actions are organized around eight key thematic areas that are essential to promoting stability across West Africa’s border regions.

Gouvernance frontalière

Launched in September 2023 and based in Dakar, Senegal, the IBSM Secretariat serves as a ‘Multi-agency One-Stop Coordination’ structure, uniting the complementary mandates and expertise of IOM, UNODC, UNOCT, and INTERPOL.

With the aim of supporting West African countries and maximizing the effectiveness of international donor funding, the IBSM relies on an inclusive structure that brings together all key implementation stakeholders to strengthen border security and integrated border governance.

Qui sommes-nous

The Integrated Border Stability Mechanismfor West Africa

Our Mission

Our Objectives

Context

Our Thematic Areas

Our Thematic Areas

Gouvernance frontalière

IBSM Coordination and Partnership Structure

The Integrated Border Stability Mechanism
for West Africa