Once viewed as a troubled post-revolutionary state on the Mediterranean’s edge, Libya has now evolved into something far more dangerous: a global hub for organized crime. The country’s prolonged political disintegration has transformed it into the central artery connecting Africa’s sprawling criminal economies to European shores. From arms trafficking and human trafficking to gold and cocaine routes stretching deep into the Sahel, Libya today stands at the heart of a shadowy transnational enterprise that is quietly reshaping the security landscape across two continents.

The Sahel – stretching across Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Chad – has long been associated with conflict and humanitarian disaster. Yet, the region has now transcended the boundaries of insurgency and aid dependency, becoming a full-fledged economic zone for transnational organized crime. Over half of global deaths related to violent extremism now occur in this vast region, a reflection not of ideological fanaticism but of the lucrative criminal economies that sustain violence. These enterprises – from illicit gold mining to arms trafficking – have supplanted the traditional functions of government, filling governance vacuums left by weakened or collapsed states.

Economic desperation is rampant. In Burkina Faso, youth unemployment stands at a staggering 75.6 percent, and illicit mining drains billions in potential state revenue annually. However, attributing the Sahel’s spiral solely to poverty misses the deeper structural shift underway. Armed groups such as Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa Al-Muslimin (JNIM) and Islamic State Sahel Province have deliberately reengineered the region’s power dynamics. They do not merely exploit disorder; they institutionalize it, imposing taxes on gold mines, smuggling routes, and local trade. Their ability to act as both predators and providers has allowed them to entrench themselves as the de facto governing powers across large stretches of the Sahel.

Libya’s collapse has amplified this phenomenon on a transcontinental scale. Its ungoverned territories and vast stockpiles of weapons –........

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