Nonstate Actors’ Violence is Driving Religious Freedom Violations in Africa’s Sahel Region  

Washington, DC –The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released the following new report:

Freedom of Religion or Belief in the Sahelian Countries of Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Chad – This report describes serious violations to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) conditions in three Sahelian countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Chad. These countries suffer some of the world’s highest death rates from nonstate actor violence, which often affects religious communities in ways that restrict FoRB. Insurgent groups that invoke religion to justify violence - such as the Islamic State in the Sahel Province (ISSP), Jama’at Ahl al-Sunna lid-Dawah wa’al-Jihad (JAS-Boko Haram) and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM)—continue to perpetrate serious violations against virtually all religious communities in the region, and in recent years they have significantly increased their destructive activity. Additionally, governments have sometimes responded to insurgent group activity by targeting innocent Muslim communities with indiscriminate arrests and violence by security forces.

In November 2023, USCIRF released a factsheet on religious freedom conditions in three other countries in the Sahel region – Sudan, Mali, and Niger. That report touched on several factors restricting FoRB in multiple Sahelian countries, including violent extremist groups, the fragility of governments, the presence of the armed forces in politics, and ethno-religious clashes in isolated areas. The same month, USCIRF held a corresponding virtual conversation on religious freedom conditions in the Sahel Region of Africa. 

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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze and report on religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion or belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..