Burkina Faso, Mali And Niger, three military-led Sahel countries, recently withdrew from the ECOWAS regional bloc and established a new military alliance to tackle jihadist violence in the region. But the new forces’ prospects for success are slim.
Tag: sahel
Djibouti, where the French president is visiting, remains home to a French military base with 1,500 soldiers, making it the largest in Africa following a string of setbacks for France in the Sahel, Chad and Senegal. France’s Africa policy is in need of reinvention.
A chapter of history is closing: that of the active French military presence on the African continent, which will soon be reduced to a bare minimum after being a central element of France’s presence in its former colonial empire.
Armed conflicts, droughts, floods, poverty… Many factors are pushing some young people from Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger to take uncertain and dangerous migration routes. In the region of Africa just south of the Sahara, unregulated migration is increasing.
The next major geopolitical conflict is brewing in the Sahel region, in the north-central stretch of Africa south of the Sahara. Islamists and armed militias are plunging the entire region into chaos, and it is even possible a new jihadist emirate may emerge. Experts are already predicting there will be thousands of new refugees. Their destination: Europe.
As Russia and China weave more intricate and long-lasting relations within the African continent, former colonizing powers like France need to step up their game in order to maintain their influence and connections.
Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday evening the recall of the French ambassador to Niger, and the departure of the 1,500 French soldiers stationed there: the end of a dangerous impasse. France is being forced to wholly review its African policy.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba is in Paris seeking help to convince Africa to abandon its wait-and-see attitude, which benefits Russia. It’s an extraordinary illustration of how Africa is singularly focused on emancipating itself from its former colonizers.
The war in Ukraine has become globalized, with its effects being felt from Africa to China. The only hope of de-escalation is in a potential diplomatic summit between the U.S. and China this autumn.
Just days after the military seized power in Niger last week, the new junta has already been the target of sanctions by Brussels and Washington. What that means for the 1,000 U.S. soldiers stationed in Niger, among other things, remains unclear.
The French military announces the killing of Adnan Abou Walid al-Sahrawi the head of the jihadist group Islamic State in the Great Sahara (ISIS-GS). In its long involvement in the northwest African region of the Sahel, France.
? ¡Buenos días!* Welcome to Thursday, where the U.S., UK and Australia form a new pact to check China, a top ISIS leader in Africa is killed and a heroic Dutch goat doesn’t chicken out. Meanwhile, French business daily Les Echos shows us how the future of NFTs is also in the (trading) cards. [*Spanish] […]
Paris has considered Chad’s army to be the most solid, experienced and tenacious in the region. But the death of Idriss Déby could change the dynamics in the French-backed fight against jihadists in the Sahel region of Africa.
French commandos are practically invisible as they carry out high-tech operations across Mali to track down Salafist fighters and other terrorists.
-Essay- RABAT – A year ago, Tuareg rebels from the Azawad National Liberation Movement (MNLA) decided to launch an attack to take back the territory of Azawad in northern Mali that they claim as their native land. They managed to chase Mali military troops from their land, but weren’t able to gain the upper hand […]
NIAMEY – The small restaurant sits on the corner of two sandy streets in Niger’s capital city, Niamey. It is here, at Le Toulousain, that two Frenchmen were kidnapped by AQIM (Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb) on Jan. 7, 2011. The two young hostages – an aid worker and his friend – were killed during […]
REUTERS, BBC NEWS (UK), WALL STREET JOURNAL (USA) Worldcrunch BAMAKO – Mali“s Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra announced his resignation on Tuesday, hours after being arrested by soldiers while trying to leave for France, reports Reuters. Diarra addressed the nation on national television saying: “Our country is living through a period of crisis. Men and […]
GULFNEWS.com (Dubai), EL WATAN (Algeria), FASO.net (Burkina Faso), BBC (UK), JEUNE AFRIQUE (France) Worldcrunch The situation in the north of Mali is provoking increasing anxiety in its neighbors. Fundamentalist Islamic rebels close to Al Qaeda have taken over the region, while the Mali government now controls only one-third of the country. The United Nations Security […]