Dataset for Spatial and Interpretive Mapping of the Sahel Transnational Conflict Economies

The central hypothesis of this study is that the Sahel conflict, spanning over a decade, is sustained by transnational conflict economies whose spatial dynamics remain unmapped and unclearly interpreted, hindering precise interventions. We argue that mapping conflict economies using an integrated Actor–Sector–Activity–Event (ASAE) lens can illuminate actionable intervention points that conventional, broad-based conflict avoidance strategies often overlook. We gathered data using document reviews, expert interviews and specialised databases (e.g., Illicit Arms Flow Database, Armed Conflict and Event Database). Data cover actors in cross-border crimes and conflicts, sectors (financial, agricultural, humanitarian, political governance), activities (resource exploitation, mercenary movements, drug–arms–human trafficking) and conflict events (battles, riots, protests). We cover five key Sahelian countries - Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad and Sudan - each serving as a pivotal node in the region's transnational conflict economies. Data integration via geospatial and network analyses reveals three distinct conflict economy blocks where violence concentrates, based on the clustering and interaction of conflict events, illicit activities, and key actors and sectors that serve as points of infiltration. Block 1: Liptako-Gourma, dominated by gold smuggling, livestock rustling and JNIM influence. Block 2: Lake Chad borderlands, with aid diversion, kidnapping, illegal taxation by ISWAP and Boko Haram. Block 3: Darfur–Kordofan–Nile Valley, shaped by mineral and arms flows under Rapid Support Forces’ control. Together, these blocks account for most conflict hotspots since 2023 and are linked by cross-border trafficking routes, shifting actor alliances and spillover displacement crises, forming a structural backbone of the Sahel conflict economies where violence, governance voids and economic control reinforce regional instability. This study – the first to adopt an ASAE-informed mapping - reveals a path to targeted, block-specific interventions, including halting specific illicit commodity flows (e.g., gold in Liptako-Gourma, minerals in Darfur corridor, aid diversion channels in Lake Chad), blocking funding and tax extraction networks, and closing cross-border smuggling routes through joint border patrols, forensic finance tracing, and coordinated sanctions on key actors. Our data should be interpreted as an ASAE-structured snapshot of transnational conflict economies in the Sahel for 2023–2025, best used to identify and compare actors, sectors, activities, and events within and across the three blocks rather than to make fine-grained temporal claims. Users are encouraged to employ our data for spatial, network and risk mapping, ideally alongside complementary qualitative or longitudinal sources to track how conflict economies evolve over time.本研究的核心假设为：延续十余年的萨赫勒地区冲突，其持续存在依托于跨国冲突经济体系，而该体系的空间动态尚未被绘制与清晰阐释，这阻碍了精准干预行动的开展。我们认为，采用整合式“行动者-部门-活动-事件（Actor–Sector–Activity–Event，ASAE）”框架绘制冲突经济图谱，能够揭示传统泛化性冲突规避策略往往忽略的、可落地的干预切入点。 我们通过文献梳理、专家访谈以及专业数据库（如非法武器流动数据库（Illicit Arms Flow Database）、武装冲突与事件数据库（Armed Conflict and Event Database））收集数据。所采集的数据涵盖跨境犯罪与冲突中的行动者、相关部门（金融、农业、人道主义、政治治理领域）、各类活动（资源开发、雇佣军调动、毒品-武器-人口贩卖）以及冲突事件（战斗、骚乱、抗议活动）。研究覆盖萨赫勒地区五个核心国家——尼日利亚、布基纳法索、马里、乍得与苏丹，这些国家均是该地区跨国冲突经济体系的关键枢纽。 通过地理空间与网络分析进行数据整合后，研究基于冲突事件、非法活动、核心行动者与部门的聚集与互动模式，识别出三个暴力活动集中的典型冲突经济区块，并将其作为渗透节点。 区块1：利普塔科-古尔马（Liptako-Gourma），以黄金走私、牲畜劫掠以及伊斯兰支持与穆斯林团体联盟（JNIM）的影响为主导。 区块2：乍得湖边境地带，涉及援助物资挪用、绑架以及伊斯兰国西非省（ISWAP）与博科圣地（Boko Haram）实施的非法征税。 区块3：达尔富尔-科尔多凡-尼罗河谷地带，由快速支援部队（Rapid Support Forces，RSF）控制下的矿产与武器流动塑造而成。 上述三个区块涵盖了2023年以来该地区绝大多数冲突热点，且通过跨境贩运路线、不断变化的行动者同盟以及外溢性流离失所危机相互联结，构成了萨赫勒冲突经济体系的结构性支柱——在该体系中，暴力活动、治理真空与经济控制权相互强化，加剧了地区不稳定。 本研究是首个采用ASAE框架开展冲突经济图谱绘制的研究，其揭示了针对特定区块的精准干预路径，包括遏制特定非法商品流动（如利普塔科-古尔马地区的黄金、达尔富尔走廊的矿产、乍得湖地带的援助物资挪用渠道）、切断资金与征税网络，以及通过联合边境巡逻、金融溯源取证以及对核心行动者的协调制裁来封堵跨境走私路线。 本研究所提供的数据，可视为2023-2025年萨赫勒地区跨国冲突经济体系的ASAE结构化快照，其最佳用途为识别并比较三个区块内部及跨区块的行动者、部门、活动与事件，而非用于开展精细化的时效性论断。我们鼓励研究者将本数据集用于空间、网络与风险图谱绘制，理想情况下可搭配补充性定性或纵向数据源，以追踪冲突经济体系随时间的演变轨迹。