ECFR Alumni · Visiting Fellow
The Sahel; Maghreb; Niger, Mali, Algeria, Western Sahara; Sahel peace and security; conflict prevention and mediation; gender and political participation in peace processes
English, French, North African Arabic dialect (proficient), modern standard Arabic (proficient)
Hannah Rae Armstrong was a visiting fellow with the Africa programme at the European Council on Foreign relations. She is a writer and policy advisor with over a decade of field-based experience in peace and security research and advocacy in North Africa and the Sahel. As International Crisis Group’s (ICG) senior Sahel analyst from 2018 to 2021, she led work on external actors, trafficking, stabilisation strategies, granular cross-border insurgency dynamics, and women’s participation in the Malian peace process. Prior to that, she led ICG’s work on Algeria and Western Sahara from 2014 to 2017.
Armstrong’s analysis and editorials have featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Le Monde, the Guardian, the Nation, and Foreign Affairs. She is a recipient of research fellowships from the Institute of Current World Affairs (central Sahel) and the Fulbright Program (Morocco). She holds degrees from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London and the New College of Florida.
It is necessary to move beyond overly militarised strategies for stabilisation in the Sahel. Local dialogue initiatives can address the roots of conflict – but require consistent buy-in from national governments