Road insecurity "is directly linked to the spread of jihadist insurgencies" in the region, Walther, an associate professor at the University of Florida, said.

With 433 recorded incidents since 2012, he said Mali's National route 16 connecting Mopti in central Mali to Gao in the north, is "by far" the most dangerous transport axis.

Death corridor

South of the Malian border, in Burkina Faso, "all roads leading to Djibo" are dangerous "due to blockades imposed on the town" by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), Walther said.

National route 22 that connects Bourzanga, Djibo and the capital Ouagadougou has been nicknamed "the death corridor" due to the frequency of deadly jihadist attacks.

In September 2022, jihadists burned over 200 supply trucks on the Bourzanga-Djibo section, killing 11 soldiers and civilian volunteers supporting the army, with numerous civilians missing.

A few months later, Abdoul Fhatave Tiemtore, editor-in-chief of the Burkinabe radio station Omega, wrote about his experience of travelling that section of road.

He described feeling "sadness, anxiety, fear and stress" after witnessing "truly horrific things".

"We saw bodies that were still fresh, decaying bodies, abandoned vehicles and craters from mines on the road," Tiemtore wrote in an article.

Tired of counting our dead

Niger has two high-risk highways, both in the southwest and both leading to Burkina Faso.

Since 2022, it has been nearly impossible to travel from the capital Niamey to Burkina's Ouagadougou by road due to the threat posed by jihadists along the 600-kilometre (373-mile) border between the two countries.

The National Association of Wood Operators in Niger told AFP in May that it had lost 24 of its drivers and apprentices since 2015 and that 52 of its trucks had been burnt on roads in the southwest of the country.

"We are tired of counting our dead," another Nigerien truck drivers' union said, with several of its members, drivers and apprentices also killed in attacks.

"The terrorists have banned us from travelling to local fairs, they even held some drivers hostage in the bush for days," said Zakaria Seyni, a Nigerien driver based in the tri-border region shared by Niger, Burkina and Mali -- a hotspot for jihadist attacks.

According to the OECD, security measures in the Sahel must be accompanied by the development of transportation infrastructure, cross-border cooperation and economic integration to promote stability.

The scarcity of roads and their poor condition have forced armies in the region to travel in convoys, leaving rural areas to jihadists, Walther said.

An alternative would be to rethink the way armies move around, using for instance "vehicles as light and versatile as those of jihadists", such as motorcycles, he said.

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