Crisis Group Role

Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim is a Consulting Senior Sahel Analyst, based in Dakar.

Areas of Expertise

• Sahel Region
• Islam and Politics
• Defence and Security
• Political Contestations
• International Development
   

Professional Background

Ibrahim gained a PhD in Political Science from the University of Florida. His dissertation focused on Islam and Political Contestation in the Sahel Region. It is a comparative study of the phenomena of protests, riots, and jihadist insurgencies in Mauritania, Niger, and Mali. He is a co-founder and research associate with the Sahel Research Group.

Ibrahim is an alumnus of the Fulbright Program and an analyst for Freedom in the World, as a Niger and Mauritania expert. He worked for four years with Islamic NGOs in Niger, including two years as the Executive Director of the Niger-office of Albasar International Foundation.

He has a background in Sociology, Islamic Jurisprudence, and Management, with degrees from the Islamic University of Say and Abdou Moumouni University of Niamey.

Languages

• French (fluent)
• English (fluent)
• Arabic (fluent)
• Hausa (native)
• Zarma/Songhay (basic)

Publications

• “Regions at Risk: Preventing Mass Atrocities in Mali,” co-authored with Mollie Zapata, Early Warning Project, Report No. 3, produced by The United State Holocaust Memorial Museum,
• “The Wave of Jihadist insurgency in West Africa: Global Ideology, Local Context, Individual Motivations,” West African Papers, No. 07, OECD Publishing, Paris (July 2017)