By Laia Serrano i Sorroca | Staff Writer
For decades, the Sahel region has witnessed a strong French presence. However, increasing anti-colonialist sentiment during the last few years has led to the repudiation of France’s troops and officials. This tendency has been accompanied by a resurgence of jihadist terrorism and a new wave of coups d’état installing military governments.
Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger are all countries comprising the Sahel region. However, it is not only their belonging to the same geographical position that unites them, as they are currently experiencing very similar historical events. Particularly, they have been living under very volatile and politically unstable governments. In fact, these four countries alone have undergone six coups d’état (some successful, others not) in the last three years.
While the domestic situation is extremely insecure within each nation, there are also some common dangers that the Sahel itself is facing, jihadism being the most relevant one. The presence of terrorist organizations is not new to the area, which has been coexisting with it
for decades – especially after the Arab Spring. Still, a peak of attacks is nowadays being witnessed. The main groups currently operating in the zone are Al-Qaeda and Islamic State, and they have all been territorially expanding. Certainly, their presence has been extending to the southern part of the region, with Nigeria, Benin, Guinea, Ivory Coast, and other neighboring countries having also invested resources in the fight against terrorism.
In parallel, European forces – especially French – have been expelled from the region. Its presence resided precisely in the provision of assistance to the Sahelian countries in order to confront the terrorist threat. Hence, the French army had been present in Mali, Chad, and Niger for almost a decade until it was asked by Mali to withdraw from the area in 2022. Other missions, such as the German, Swedish, Norwegian, or European ones have either refrained from deploying forces or decided to withdraw the ones already on the ground.
The calls for departure had been long and broad in the African region, given that the population itself viewed the presence of such military operations as another expression of French colonialism in the continent. Additionally, while the military presence was based on antiterrorist purposes, the reality is that during the last few years, terrorist groups have only increased in number and influence.
It remains to be seen what the future holds for the region, now that the military branches of each Sahelian state confront the terrorist threat with another strategy, while the domestic situation is not optimal at the same time. However, the recent approximation of such countries with Russia might imply the arising of a new alliance that provides the African nations with the necessary support to combat terrorism effectively.