Inside Africa: The Sahel Region’s Fight Against Terrorism
ANNIE RISEMBERG / AFP
The Mali government finds itself in turmoil for the second time in less than a decade following a coup in mid-August. Rebel troops have come in and taken power, taking down President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and dissolving the parliament. The country is now in a state of political unrest as it tries to impose a transitional government while the international community decries the situation. The West African collective, the Economic Community of West African States, have denounced the coup and are in the process of sending their own delegates to the country. They are calling for the restoration of Keita while the concern for the region’s campaign against the terrorist groups which have made the area their home.
The last coup in Mali occurred in 2012, and its ties to the terrorist groups noted then. The concern is whether the French will be able to continue with their regional presence in the campaign against Al-Qaida and its North African branch, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, also known as AQIM. France has assured it will remain in the region to support the efforts to combat AQIM in Mali. Fighting between the AQIM and other jihadists groups have called for the need to promote the need to create an international campaign with Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Chad, named the G5 Sahel Joint Force established in 2017. France provides approximately 4,500 troops, along with 12,000 from the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, to fight the radicals and prevent Mali, as well as other countries in the region which the Islamist extremists have made their home, from becoming a safe place for AQIM. The terrorist organization has wreaked havoc on the region while concentrating its recruitment efforts in the area, raising concern that the region could become a safe haven for these groups.
With Mali destabilized after the coup, some were worried that the fight against the extremists would be derailed, but France continues to keep up the fight. Earlier this year, the country met with others in the G5 Sahel Joint Force in a summit to help coordinate the military effort against AQIM, as well as another al-Qaida affiliate Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), which is largely based in West Africa. At this point, France even promised to increase its presence by a small fraction, though the French did have something to say about the growing objection to international presence in the Sahel region. Demonstrations in the regions capitals have been largely led by Islamic preachers who criticize the French for practicing “neo-colonialism,” working to establish a strong influence in the area the jihadists are trying to claim for themselves.
AQIM has largely based itself in the northern region of the continent. Another branch more locally known, JNIM, made its appearance in 2017, led by Iyad Ag Ghali. AQIM has led the fight against the French presence after it came up in 2013, though its main concern is looking at the local governments it works to dismantle and replace. The goal is to implement sharia law in all countries the group operates in. The AQIM, led by Abdelmalek Droukdel told the New York Times in 2008 that the group’s mission is to “liberate the Islamic Maghreb from the sons of France and Spain and from all symbols of treason and employment for the outsiders, and protect it from the foreign greed and the crusader’s hegemony.” Droukdel was put in charge of Algeria before he was killed by French troops in June earlier this year. This sentiment was part of what drew the concerns of international groups like the UN and brought French troops in the area. The need to be the dominant power in the region led to a series of attacks. Villagers find themselves at risk during the attacks in the Sahel region, at war between the jihadists and the international forces working to quell the other. Al-Qaeda continues to gain traction in the region though. For a long time, the North Africa region found itself as the hub of Al-Qaeda operations, though in more recent years, this has changed. In 2016, AQIM found most of its recruits in Mali. Algerians were replaced by Malians after an attack in Côte d’Ivoire. It is what the French were looking to prevent. Informants and militants for the organization were easy to find in the Sahel region, looking to spread its own doctrine that an unstable region could look to for guidance.
Mali found itself the hotbed for the jihadist insurgents during its first coup. In 2012, the general public’s dissatisfaction with the Malian government’s handling of the northern region. The government was overthrown by the rebel group and replaced with the National Committee for the Recovery of Democracy and Restoration of the State. This coup was taken over by the Tuareg rebels, the North and West African pastoralists, and Islamic insurgents with ties to AQIM. The northern region was declared the independent state of Azawad by the Tuareg rebels without the support of the international community. Eventually sanctions from the ECOWAS and support from the UN would restore civilian rule instead of the Islamic extremists’ sharia law, though the international presence had already been drawn in as well as the jihadists who would be fighting each other for nearly a decade after.
Today the Sahel region is a battleground for two different Islamic extremist groups: al-Qaida and Islamic State. The two groups, with their own doctrines, have brought their rivalry from areas such as Yemen, Somali, and Syria, and are now fighting over recruits and influence in the Sahel region. Pressure from the international forces have added to the conflict between the two groups struggling for power along with the international powers taking an interest in the region.
