Sahel

American  

[suh-heyl, -heel] / səˈheɪl, -ˈhil /

noun

1. the arid area on the S flank of the Sahara desert that stretches across six countries from Senegal to Chad.

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Other Word Forms

• Sahelian
  adjective

Example Sentences

The U.S. finished its withdrawal from neighboring Niger in 2024, including from a drone base that conducted counterterrorism intelligence-gathering and reconnaissance missions in the Sahel.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026

But the latest attacks mark a "major escalation in the conflict" between the military government and the rebels, said Jean-Hervé Jezequel, Sahel director with the International Crisis Group.

From BBC • Apr. 29, 2026

These days, al-Qaida is broken up into several affiliates in sometimes overlapping geographical areas: the Sahel, North and West Africa; Syria; Somalia; Yemen; and finally, a very small group in South Asia.

From Slate • Apr. 21, 2026

Checker said that the Sahel states have shown an "openness" to resuming security cooperation with the United States but that it would take time as there was a "severe, understandable trust deficit."

From Barron's • Apr. 8, 2026

A further likely example is the east-west spread of crops within Africa’s wide Sahel zone, but paleobotanists have yet to work out the details.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond