Department of National Security: Enhancing Resilience in Response to Sub-Regional Insecurity

Since 2018, the terrorist threat long confined to the Sahel has been spreading to the coastal countries of West Africa. For Togo, this risk was confirmed on February 15, 2019, during an attack on a mobile customs post in Nohao, in the Boulgou province of Burkina Faso, close to Togo’s Savanes Region. The incident resulted in five victims, including four customs officers and a Spanish priest. The Savanes Region of Togo borders the eastern and central-eastern regions of Burkina Faso, which are experiencing an upsurge in attacks attributed to violent extremist groups active in the Sahel. This program aims at promoting the use of soft approaches (non-security and non-kinetic means) to preventing violent extremism in Togo through local P/CVE committees that will use discourse and actions to address the drivers of violent extremism in a multidisciplinary manner, taking into account input from a wide range of government actors (e.g. law enforcement, security forces, and related ministries), non-governmental actors (e.g. local communities; youth; women; religious, cultural and educational leaders; civil society organizations; and the media), and the private sector.