Terrorist Financing from North Africa to the Sahel Region: Exhaustible or Inexhaustible Stream?

Terrorist organizations and their activities mean a constant and serious threat to the population of the Sahel Region and the Northern territories of Africa. The following chapter tries to shed more light on the logistical, financial, and sociological background of the terrorist’s actions. How is it possible to effectively support illegal activities in the aforementioned regions? As this question is to be answered, the author tries to examine the different aspects of terrorist financing, while he also presents the weak democratic functioning and institutions of the African states. Firstly, one must be familiar with the shortcomings, inefficiencies, and other diseases (corruption, poverty, lack of democratic accountability, etc.) of the developing economy characteristics and structures, in order to understand the complex mechanisms of terrorist financing. At the end of the paper, the conclusions will point out whether crime financing in North Africa and in the Sahel is an exhaustible or an inexhaustible stream.