The Sahel region spreads from west to eastern Africa and comprises ten countries. It extends from northern Senegal to the tip of the northern parts of Ethiopia. This vast swath of land which is hardly in the news for good has suffered a series of struggles over the years, including famine conflicts, ethno, religious crises etc. These challenges which are interconnected in some ways have led to the instability of the region for many years. Mali a major country in the belt of the Sahel is witnessing a conflict that has raged on for many years. After years of stable democracy, the military coup of 2012 happened and left a power vacuum. This plunged the country into a long term conflict that has evaded all forms of resolutions. In 2017 the conflict in Mali is still ongoing despite numerous attempts to strike a peace deal prompting the Malian conflict to be described as the deadliest of the 16 UN's global peacekeeping operations Aljazeera 2017; The focus of this paper is to examine the ongoing conflict in Mali how it affects the neighboring areas and other countries in the Sahel region and proffer solutions that will bring peace and stability to the region. This is especially imperative as the conflict in Mali has evaded all forms of peaceful accords and seems to be spreading across the entire region. The genesis of the contemporary Mali conflict can be traced back to 2012 when a military coup overthrew the democratically elected government of Mali which was headed by then-President Amadou Toumane Toure.
