Sahel: against foreign troupes ?
In Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, civil society organizations (CSOs), opposition parties, as well as workers and students’ unions are increasingly protesting against foreign forces presence in their countries. These attitudes stem from several motivations: respect of the Independence spirit that had led the new States, such as Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) and Mali, to demand the departure of the French army from their territory and also the relative weak results of said foreign armies in their support to the fight against terrorism.
A number of the Sahel governments have their eyes fixed on the rearview mirror, wanting to know nothing of the present and even less of the future. Populist discourse with a haunting refrain – » it is the others’ fault » is recurrently condemning the international community action though not offering an alternative. A demagogy that does not serve the Sahel countries or the regimes themselves. A fresher and freed look is called for.
Under popular pressure, both Algeria and Sudan are in turmoil. But there is no compass for direction. In Algeria, what majority will replace the FLN (National Liberation Front) quasi-state? In Sudan, what political or military formation will succeed General Omar Hassan El Bashir semi-Islamist regime? In addition to domestic changes, these momentous upheavals will have impacts on the Maghreb region and also elsewhere, especially in the Sahel!
One week after the Ecowas Summit held in Abuja, Nigeria, the African Union should convene its annual Summit in Niamey, Niger, on 5 July. Presently, few other places could be more appropriate for this gathering than that capital located in the Sahel’s core. A Sahel that is often ‘’either a bond, a corridor or a barrier’’.