Sahel: France and ECOWAS play a risky game in troubled waters

France’s military presence in the Sahel, undertaken in concert with its allies, raises the question of whether this presence is truly contributing to the easing of the crisis or whether, paradoxically, it could aggravate the situation. It is essential to ask whether the French initiatives are actually aimed at a constructive resolution of the current situation, or whether they could rekindle the flames of latent discord.

The decision taken by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at the extraordinary summit held on 10 August 2023 to launch a military intervention in Niger, supported by France, raises questions about the real roles played by the French presence in the Sahel and the action of ECOWAS.

The question naturally arises as to why the ECOWAS heads of state had not yet taken the initiative to coordinate their efforts in the fight against terrorism, and how they suddenly got together to dispatch military forces to Niger to restore deposed President Bazoum, backed by France. This agitation appears to be a form of tacit complicity with terrorist groups.

The deposed President of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, is said to be the sponsor of the terrorists, which would explain the relentlessness shown by France and its partners towards the new Niger authorities and the people, whose aspirations boil down to a fair distribution of national resources and the fight against terrorism.

France’ s military presence in the Sahel aims to destroy Niger. This would be a continuation of the Machiavellian plan of the former colonizer and, by extension, NATO, to destroy neighbouring Libya, as revealed by Christine Lagarde’s emails in the WikiLeaks affair.

The worthy people of ECOWAS must be vigilant and not fall into the trap of leaders who would be defending the interests of imperialism to the detriment of those of the people.

Loukman Binta