Africa’s Sahel lose hope in France’s so-called counter-terrorism efforts

Leaders of countries in West Africa’s Sahel region have abandoned their hopes in purported counter-terrorism efforts by France and started negotiating with armed militants to bring peace to the restive region.

The Sahel, a semi-arid stretch of land south of the Sahara desert, has been in turmoil since 2012, when a number of armed separatists started targeting the local population in Mali.

As a former colonial power seeking significant military presence in Africa, France decided to send thousands of soldiers in 2013 to try to prevent separatist forces from reaching Mali’s capital, Bamako.

Last year, France boosted its troop numbers for its so-called Operation Barkhane in the Sahel by 600 to 5,100 soldiers, but with the military presence failing to bring the situation under control, the UN also deployed its peacekeeping forces in the region.

Terrorist groups, linked to al-Qaeda and Daesh, have strengthened their foothold across the arid Sahel region, making large swathes of territory ungovernable and stoking local ethnic violence, especially in Mali and Burkina Faso.

During a two-day summit on February 16, French President Emmanuel Macron appeared via video link from inside the Elysee palace to give France's view on the Sahel region's rampant militancy.

After addressing heads of state from Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger and Mauritania, Macron told journalists that the African leaders had agreed that they could not negotiate with the commanders of two of the region's most notorious armed groups.

Reiterating a longstanding French position of "no negotiation with terrorists,” Macron referred to Iyad Ag Ghali, leader of the Tuareg separatist group, and Amadou Koufa, the head of Katiba Macina militants, as “enemies".

Ironically, the most violent extremists have emerged in the Middle East and Africa after the deployment of Western troops and violence has intensified in proportion to their military buildup over time.

Since 2012, Mali has been in a persisting conflict after Takfiri terrorists hijacked an uprising by Tuareg people, a large Berber ethnic confederation living across the Sahara Desert, in the north.

During the past seven years, their violence has moved to central Mali, from where Takfiri terrorists launch attacks across the Sahel region.

Outfits affiliated with al-Qaeda and Daesh terrorist groups have used central and northern Mali as a launch pad for growing numbers of attacks across the Sahel region, especially on neighbors Niger and Burkina Faso, despite the presence of French troops, who help the Malian army to push back militants.

France recently increased the number of troops in the Sahel to more than 5,000 despite opposition to the former colonizer’s presence in the volatile region. A poll published last month found for the first time that a slim majority of French people viewed the military intervention in the Sahel unfavorably.

The United Nations declared in July last year that the spread of terrorist attacks in West Africa was so fast that the region had to consider bolstering its response beyond current military efforts.

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