The Timbuktu Institute (a think tank) reviewed interactions between religious bodies and states in six Sahelian countries during the COVID-19 crisis. Overall, while most religious bodies have supported the government’s public health measures (most of them without precedent, including shutting religious sites), the positions of religious actors are by no means unanimous regarding the political and administrative decisions regulating worship and other religious matters. The study points to significant questions arising about the balance of power between governments and religious actors in the region.
 
The crisis has highlighted significant shifts and new trends in state-religious relationships in the region. The sacred and the political have always interacted in this region, but the past few months have been marked by new measures to regulate worship, justified on health grounds. The measures are stricter in some places than in others. Some groups have criticized government authorities as "enemies of religion," while others have opted for open dialogue and negotiations with religious actors. Some observers see this latter choice as disempowering the sovereign state, while others see it as a practical measure of a sensible secularism where there is separation of temporal and spiritual powers.
 
With limited field surveys on the health situation, a monitoring team reviewed the different countries analyzed, focusing on interactions between political authorities and religious actors on health issues. Attitudes of religious actors are classified into three categories ranging from proactive to dissenting. The study's analysis note deals with various religious decisions in light of restrictive measures linked to the management of the COVID-19 pandemic in the G5 Sahel countries and Senegal. It reviews areas of convergence among religious bodies as well as disagreement (for example, different approaches among Senegalese Sufi communities).
 
Among the findings are quite wide knowledge of the risks of COVID-19 among even populations in remote areas, agreement among different religious groups (for example in Burkina Faso), and concerted action, with some fringe groups doubting the significance of COVID-19 or seeing it as a “white man’s disease.” The analysis also highlights proactive efforts to protect students in Quranic schools and to distribute products like protective gear.
 
The study’s conclusions highlight the important roles of religious institutions in community resilience during the crisis, contrasting their continuing significance to the weaknesses and sometimes haphazard responses of various governments. In effect, the study points to shifts in the relative balance of power, and it recommends further study of relationships and moving towards structural dialogue platforms, both during the crisis and beyond, that bring together governments and religious actors. One observation from Senegal is that government engagement with religious bodies should not be à la carte but continuing and systematic.

(Based on: June 5, 2020, Timbuktu Institute report [French])