Nigeria’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, has called for renewed and sustained global engagement to address escalating insecurity across the Sahel, warning that prolonged armed conflict continues to undermine regional stability, threaten civilian lives, and stall progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Tuggar made the appeal while participating in the Oslo Forum, one of the world’s leading platforms for conflict mediation and peace diplomacy, where policymakers, mediators, and international stakeholders gathered to explore practical pathways toward resolving contemporary conflicts.
In a press statement signed by his media aide, AlKasim AbdulKadir, he stressed the urgency of intensified regional cooperation and international collaboration, noting that only sustained dialogue and preventive diplomacy can produce lasting solutions to the complex security challenges confronting the Sahel region.
He underscored the importance of platforms such as the Oslo Forum in convening global actors to confront ongoing crises, stating that such engagements help to sharpen attention on conflict zones and generate actionable strategies for peacebuilding.
This year’s edition of the forum brought together about 150 participants, including mediators, conflict parties, and security experts from across the world. The gathering is hosted by Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Espen Barth Eide, in collaboration with the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.
Discussions at the forum covered a wide range of global security concerns, including armed conflicts, international humanitarian law in wartime, and maritime security. Dedicated regional sessions focused on conflict dynamics in West Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and the Horn of Africa.
High-profile attendees included Kenyan President William Ruto, foreign ministers from several Sahel countries, senior representatives from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, as well as the United Kingdom’s National Security Adviser and China’s Special Envoy for the Middle East. Representatives of the United Nations, regional organizations, and civil society groups also participated in the deliberations.
Tuggar’s intervention forms part of broader diplomatic efforts to strengthen multilateral responses to insecurity in the Sahel, where extremist violence, governance challenges, and humanitarian pressures continue to escalate across several states in the region.
The Forum concluded with renewed calls for coordinated international action, stronger mediation frameworks, and sustained commitment to peacebuilding initiatives across conflict-affected regions.
