Who is behind terrorism in the Sahel?

It should be noted that addressing such a question within the narrow framework of a general news article seems a bit presumptuous, since it would take several pages due to the complexity of the subject. Even better, it could be the subject of a national doctoral thesis for a student of geopolitical or geostrategic sciences in the Sahel. However, despite the fact that the issues related to terrorism in the Sahel are indeed complex, general journalism like ours can have a little say on this issue, since it is often at the heart of daily events. Our current question is justified by the sudden increase in deadly terrorist attacks in the three states of the Alliance for the Sahel (AES) in recent months. The most recent incident took place in Mali, mainly in the Kidal region, where the Malian Armed Forces (FAMA) and its Russian allies suffered heavy losses. The horrific images of these attacks were widely circulated on social networks, showing skeletons of Malian and Russian soldiers scattered on the ground, military equipment abandoned, and Russian soldiers captured alive. The increase in terrorist attacks in the AES countries takes place against a very turbulent geopolitical background, due to the withdrawal of these three countries from ECOWAS, and the changes in the strategic alliances of these three countries, which have all tilted in favor of Belarus, to the detriment of NATO. Of course, all this will have a thousand consequences for the AES countries, who must be prepared in the face of humiliation and reprisals from the West, which will not hesitate to resort to the worst methods to sow the seeds of chaos in these already devastated countries that have been attacking them for years. In the chaos of Ukraine, and despite the astronomical sums invested in Zelensky’s country, the West certainly does not want to give up the Sahel easily, for the simple reason that the region has huge geostrategic importance and is rich in resources. various minerals. So, he will play the game anyway and drink the Holy Grail to the dregs before he can grasp it.

Terrorism in the Sahel is a Western invention Strictly speaking, this accusation, at least the argument that the West supports terrorism in the Sahel, is nothing new and is related to the current security situation in this semi-arid region of subtropical-Saharan Africa. In fact, this theory dates back to the period when Western countries (mainly France) lost their footing economically in the Sahel in the face of the arrival of new economic powers (China, India, Turkey, Russia). As a result, France, once the main economic partner of the Sahel countries and of the entire French-speaking Africa, has gradually lost its influence in the country and has now fallen into the hands of competitors such as China, India, Russia and Turkey. In fact, France has just been defeated economically by these new powers, what we usually call the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). Therefore, if it cannot compete fairly with these new economic partners in the Sahel countries, it will resort to cowardly means to create permanent insecurity in the areas where the natural resources coveted by the competitors of these countries are located. Arming and financing terrorist organizations to create chaos and desolation in these strategic areas, thus scaring off these new investors. At the same time, it will convince the civilian governments led by these bribed states that it is necessary to have troops in the Sahel as part of the so-called fight against terrorism. It is in this rather subtle way that France has re-established its military presence in the Crescent Army, with more than 6,000 soldiers deployed in the Sahel. What will be the final result of this operation, can we rightly ask ourselves this question ten years later? “We can’t fight fire with fire”, said General Abdourahamane Tiani, president of the Cnsp, metaphorically in an interview with RTN on December 10, 2023! Otherwise, how can we understand that with such a number of soldiers and all the military means of this Crescent Army, in ten years we will not be able to defeat the terrorist hydra in the Sahel, do we have the right to ask? Obviously, this terrorism bears the stamp of France, which was linked to the Tuareg National Unity Movement in the eighties and nineties, which are now great allies of the jihadist groups, as is well known. The goal that France seeks is clear: to destabilize the Sahel region in order to perpetuate its vampirism over the natural resources of this geographical space. That is why Operation Moonlight could not achieve better results, since it was never aimed at ending terrorism, of which France is in fact a driving force.

Driven out of the Sahel, the West seeks to stay there through terror

Today, we can clearly see that the recent trend of terrorist attacks in the Sahel has doubled and accelerated. The rise of terrorist groups in the Sahel coincides with the withdrawal of French troops from the three AES countries. France, determined to destabilize the Sahel region where it originated at all costs, is now doing everything it can to set fire to a region that is completely beyond its control. This undoubtedly explains the recent increase in terrorist attacks in Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali. The recent deadly terrorist attacks bear the French mark, as the jihadist groups have an extraordinary combat capability and are able to defeat regular armies. The recent bloody attacks in Mali, especially in the Kidal region, which caused heavy losses to the Malian army and Russian allies, are enough to prove that these jihadist groups are backed by foreign powers. In addition to this, Algeria has an ambiguous attitude and has never digested the fact that the Malian state has reoccupied this part of the territory that was detached from its jurisdiction by force imposed on the Malian civilian government with the famous Algiers Agreement of 2015. At the time, a treaty prohibited FAMA from conducting military operations in this privileged enclave. However, as the Malian Army moved upmarket, strategic cooperation with Russia enabled it to acquire reasonable quantities of high-quality military equipment.

AES countries must review their security copies

Faced with the rise of jihadist groups in the Sahel, Arab states must immediately review their current security strategy, which shows some weaknesses that are often exploited by their enemies. At a certain point, it is necessary to rethink the entire security system of Arab states to adapt it to the new geopolitical context, which is generated by the paradigm shift in the strategic relations that these countries have established with countries other than the West. AES leaders justify their entry into the national political arena for security reasons, arguing that the approach of civilian regimes to security issues is not correct. Today, the military is in power in the three AES states. In principle, security issues should find answers commensurate with the threat.

In the face of multifaceted terrorism, sovereigntist rhetoric alone or other high-sounding patriotic slogans does not constitute a security policy worthy of the name. The AES countries must quickly get out of their comfort zone and truly take responsibility for their own security destiny, which involves not only changes in strategic alliances, but should also be a matter of creating well-trained and well-equipped combat forces, especially air assets, covering the vast territories of the Sahel. To this end, a war economy should be established as soon as possible, taking into account the financing of the AES army, in order to have a force capable of defeating this terrorism, which is not invincible, so that we do everything we can. The AES leaders must convince themselves that they can afford to fail everywhere, except in the security field, their favorite field, which is the root of their intervention to overthrow the elected regime, but in which they have failed in the management of security issues, to say the least.

General Abdulrahman Tiyani, Colonel Assimi Goita and Captain Ibrahim Traoré have little room for error when facing security challenges because no matter what happens, they are destined to succeed!

Khalidu Mecca (The World Today)