Repression of Democracy Defenders in the Sahel: Civic Closure, Impunity, and Resistance, 2020-2025

Etienne Fakaba Sissoko ()
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Etienne Fakaba Sissoko: Université des sciences sociales et de gestion de Bamako - USSGB - Université des sciences sociales et de gestion de Bamako, CRAPES MALI - Centre de Recherche et d'Analyses Politiques, Economiques et Sociales du Mali, Faculté des Sciences économiques et de Gestion - USSGB - Université des sciences sociales et de gestion de Bamako

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Abstract: This article analyzes the repression of democracy defenders in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Chad between 2020 and 2025 as a repressive ecology combining coercion, authoritarian legality, media control, digital stigmatization, and organized impunity. Using NGO reporting, civic-space indicators, judicial materials, and reference journalism, it reconstructs a recurrent sequence that moves from delegitimization to coercion and then to impunity. Particular attention is paid to party suspensions and dissolution in Mali, punitive conscription in Burkina Faso, prolonged detention in Niger, and foundational impunity in Chad, as well as to the informational role of social networks, citizen journalism, and vidéomania in the struggle over visibility. The article argues that repression does not merely silence opponents; it progressively deserts the countervailing institutions on which accountable political order depends.

Keywords: civic space repression authoritarian legality impunity Sahel democratic resistance; civic space; repression; authoritarian legality; impunity; Sahel; democratic resistance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-04-21
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