How questions of sovereignty and security are fueling instability in the Sahel

Chadian soldiers celebrate as they parade in D'Jamena on May 9, 2021. (AFP/File)
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Updated 31 December 2024
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How questions of sovereignty and security are fueling instability in the Sahel

  • Chad ended military cooperation with France in November, marking another major shift in the regional power balance
  • Withdrawal of Western forces could lead to greater sovereignty, but might also leave states vulnerable to insurgencies

LONDON: As a piece of geopolitical theater, the timing was hard to beat. Chad’s foreign minister announced the end of military cooperation with France just hours after his French counterpart left the country.

That it took place on Nov. 28, as Chad celebrated its Republic Day—a key date in its move away from French colonial rule—only added to the symbolism.

On the same day, Senegal also suggested French troops should leave.

It was a seminal moment in post-colonial relations between France and the Sahel—the belt of nations south of the Sahara that stretches across Africa.

The departure of French troops from Chad and Senegal means France will no longer have a military presence in a region where it has long held sway.




While Chad’s decision to evict French troops was not driven by a military coup, it came amid increasing hostility toward the French across the region. (AFP/File)

The political dynamics of the Sahel have been rapidly shifting in recent years, and 2024 was no exception.

Chad’s decision to end its defense pact with France was one of the most significant events in a year that saw a continuation of the shift away from Western influence.

In the past three years, France has withdrawn troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, as a wave of coups brought military regimes hostile to French influence into power.

These governments have looked elsewhere—to Russia, China, and Turkiye—for defense cooperation, dealing a major blow to Western hopes of maintaining a security presence in a region that has become a melting pot for extremist groups.

The year began with Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger announcing they would leave the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)—a regional bloc established to help maintain financial and political security.




French soldiers from the Barkhane force stand at the Barkhane tactical command center in N'Djamena. (AFP/File)

There is widespread concern that the shrinking of this influential bloc of nations will lead to further instability.

Indeed, the backdrop for the past year of turmoil has been an ever-deteriorating security situation across the Sahel, with a growing number of civilians maimed and killed amid extremist insurgencies.

Chad’s decision to end its defense cooperation with France came in stark contrast to the ambitious Sahel security policy it enacted more than 10 years earlier.

In 2012, northern Mali was overrun by militants allied to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. As they expanded south toward the capital, Mali appealed to its former colonizer for help. In early 2013, France deployed 1,700 troops as part of Operation Serval.

The initial mission appeared to work as the militants fled northern towns. But the insurgency soon spread to neighboring countries.




Boko Haram members. (X)

In response, France expanded the operation in 2014 to include five states—Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger. It deployed more than 5,000 soldiers and rebranded it Operation Barkhane.

Meanwhile, the insurgency grew, with militant factions aligning into two main groups: the Al-Qaeda offshoot Jama’at Nusrat Al-Islam wal-Muslimin and the Sahel branch of Daesh.

The failure to suppress the militants in Mali in the long term was one of the reasons for the 2020 coup that led to a deterioration in relations with France. In 2022, President Emmanuel Macron withdrew French troops from Mali as Russian mercenaries increased their presence.

A similar pattern followed in Burkina Faso and Niger, where populations turned against the French presence, military coups ensued, and France had to withdraw its troops.

FASTFACTS

• Chad ended military cooperation with France in November 2024, marking a major shift in the Sahel’s geopolitical landscape.

• Post-colonial resentment and France’s neo-colonial policies fueled public opposition, forcing troop withdrawals from Sahel nations.

• With Western powers withdrawing, Russia expanded its role in the Sahel, providing military advisers and forming alliances.


While Chad’s decision to evict French troops was not driven by a military coup, it came amid increasing hostility toward the French across the region.

“After 66 years since the independence of the Republic of Chad, it is time for Chad to assert its full sovereignty and redefine its strategic partnerships according to national priorities,” Abderaman Koulamallah, Chad’s foreign minister, said.

“This decision, taken after in-depth analysis, marks a historic turning point.”

Many analysts feel this was a turning point of France’s own making, stemming from its neo-colonial policies that limited the sovereignty of Sahel nations.

“Since independence, France has intervened in Chad and other former colonies, providing regime survival packages and interfering in domestic politics,” Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, told Arab News.




Protesters wave Chadian flags during an anti-France demonstration in N'djamena. (AFP/File)


There has been increasing hostility toward the region’s monetary system, which many view as a relic from the colonial era that allows France to maintain excessive control over their economies.

The African Financial Community (CFA) franc monetary zone applies across 14 countries in West and Central Africa and is pegged to the euro. Critics say it strips those countries of an independent national monetary policy.

This has fed growing resentment of the French presence in the region.

“The continued French interference in domestic affairs has created substantial anti-French sentiment in its former colonies,” said Laessing.

“No ruler in Africa can be seen close to France as they would face a public backlash. This was one of the reasons why Chad decided to end the military partnership with France.”

The deteriorating security situation has added to that resentment. An attack by the extremist group Boko Haram near the border with Nigeria in October killed at least 40 Chadian soldiers. Opposition parties said the French presence had failed to prevent the attack.

Reports preceding the French foreign minister’s visit in November suggested France was already planning a major troop reduction in African countries, including cutting numbers in Chad from 1,000 to 300.

However, the full withdrawal from Chad means that the last operational French base in Africa will be in Djibouti on the Red Sea coast, which Macron visited on Dec. 20.

For Chad, losing French military support is a significant concern for the multinational force battling Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin—an area that includes parts of Chad, Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria.




General Thierry Burkhard, French Army Chief of the Defence Staff, talks on April 15, 2022 to a group of soldiers from Cameroon, Chad. (AFP/File)

“The withdrawal is good news for Boko Haram,” said Laessing. “I don’t think that the US and Britain will be able to contribute to the Lake Chad force without French logistical support.”

In 2019, French jets stopped a rebel column approaching the capital to topple then-President Idriss Deby. He was killed in 2021 in further clashes with militants and replaced by his son, Mahamat Deby Itno.

“Chad’s decision to expel French troops is a dangerous move for President Mahamat Deby because the main function of the French jets based in the Chadian capital is to protect the government against rebel attacks, which are frequent in this fragile country,” said Laessing.

The two Mirage 2000-D fighter jets left Chad for France on Dec. 10.

It was not just France that saw its position in the Sahel eroded in 2024. In March, Niger announced it would end military cooperation with the US.

By mid-September, the withdrawal of 1,100 American troops was complete, ending an extensive counter-terrorism operation run out of two air bases.

As the Americans left, the Russians moved in, with military advisers arriving from Moscow in May.




Chadian and French flags are seen at the Base Aerienne Projetee, also called air base 172 Chief Sergeant Adji Kossei, in N'Djamena. (AFP/File)

In 2024, the growing alliance of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger represented a seismic shift in the region’s balance of power.

As violence surged, a record 7,620 people were killed in the Sahel in the first six months of 2024—a 9 percent increase from 2023 and a staggering 190 percent rise from 2021.

Many fear the geopolitical changes in the region will make Sahel nations even more unstable.

With little hope of political or military solutions, the conflicts are likely to persist, leaving vulnerable populations in greater peril in the year ahead.

 


Singapore PM urges voters to re-elect his cabinet to deal with US, China

Updated 2 sec ago
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Singapore PM urges voters to re-elect his cabinet to deal with US, China

  • PM Wong urges voters to stick with his team in face of US tariffs, US-China tensions
  • Last day of campaigning ahead of May 3 election
SINGAPORE: Singaporeans need to vote for candidates who have built up trust and close relationships with counterparts in the US and China, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Thursday, urging voters to re-elect his cabinet at a May 3 poll.
Addressing a 1.4 million-strong labor union on the last day of campaigning, Wong warned of economic turbulence and job losses if US tariffs slow global growth. His government has warned the trade-reliant economy may face a possible recession.
“We must expect more pressure on us and to navigate these pressures, it will take experience and skill. It will take people in government who have built up trust and close relationships with their counterparts in both America and China,” Wong said.
He said voters needed to re-elect his whole team to effectively deal with these economic headwinds.
“I have backups, I have reserves, sure. But everyone knows that the team cannot function at the same level. It’s the same in any organization, and it will be so in our next cabinet if we end up with such a loss,” he said, referring to the possible loss of his deputy prime minister.
Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party, in power since 1959, is widely expected to be easily re-elected, but there is growing unhappiness with its governance in the face of rising costs of living.
Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong was nominated at the 11th hour in a hotbed contest in a ward in northeast Singapore in an effort to stop the main opposition Workers’ Party, which won 10 seats in the last parliament.
Campaigning in recent days has zeroed in on Gan being new to the area, after an incumbent ruling party candidate called the opposition team strangers. The opposition fired back, asking if Gan was the real stranger to the constituency.
Wong has thrown his weight behind Gan, calling him his “taskforce man” because Gan co-headed the COVID-19 taskforce and is now chairing the “economic resilience” taskforce dealing with the impact of US tariffs.
“The key person in charge of this work is no stranger to you. He is no stranger to the whole of Singapore,” Wong said on Thursday.
This is the first electoral test for Wong, who took over from long-time premier Lee Hsien Loong last year as leader of the People’s Action Party.
Six political parties and an independent candidate have rallies scheduled for Thursday night.
Parties get to fire their last salvos on Thursday before 2.76 million voters go to a compulsory poll on Saturday after a short nine-day campaign season. Friday is designated as a “cooling off” day, meant for voters to decide on their ballot, and parties are not allowed to campaign.

Former VP Harris says Trump’s America is ‘self-serving’

Updated 1 min 9 sec ago
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Former VP Harris says Trump’s America is ‘self-serving’

  • Critics have been appalled at what they say is a vengeful administration carelessly overstepping democratic and constitutional norms
  • Recent polls have shown a majority of the country is becoming disenchanted with the political and economic tumult
SAN FRANCISCO: Former US vice president Kamala Harris hit out at Donald Trump and his backers on Wednesday, in her first major speech since losing November’s election.
The defeated Democrat told supporters the apparent “chaos” of the last three months was actually the realization of a long-cherished plan by conservatives who are using Trump to twist the United States to their own advantage.
“What we are, in fact, witnessing is a high velocity event, where a vessel is being used for the swift implementation of an agenda that has been decades in the making,” she told an audience in San Francisco.
“An agenda to slash public education. An agenda to shrink government and then privatize its services. All while giving tax breaks to the wealthiest.
“A narrow, self-serving vision of America where they punish truth-tellers, favor loyalists, cash in on their power, and leave everyone to fend for themselves.”
Trump’s first 100 days in power have been marked by a dizzying array of executive orders tackling everything from immigration to foreign aid to showerhead pressure.
Critics have been appalled at what they say is a vengeful administration carelessly overstepping democratic and constitutional norms, including clashing with the courts.
While Trump’s supporters have cheered some of the rapid-fire changes, recent polls have shown a majority of the country is becoming disenchanted with the political and economic tumult, particularly from his oft-changing tariffs.
Harris, who is thought to be mulling a run for the governorship of her home state of California in 2026 or a possible White House run in 2028, has largely stayed out of the limelight since leaving Washington in January.
On Wednesday she was a guest speaker at an event run by Emerge, a political organization that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for public office.
She told the crowd that Trump was targeting universities and courts because he wanted to cow the opposition.
“President Trump, his administration, and their allies are counting on the notion that fear can be contagious,” she said.
“They are counting on the notion that, if they can make some people afraid, it will have a chilling effect on others.”
But, she said, there were judges, academics, politicians and regular people who were standing up to the government.
“Fear isn’t the only thing that’s contagious. Courage is contagious,” she said.
“The courage of all these Americans inspires me.”

South Korean prosecutors indict ex-President Yoon for abuse of authority

Updated 12 min 34 sec ago
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South Korean prosecutors indict ex-President Yoon for abuse of authority

  • The indictment is in addition to an ongoing trial on insurrection charges
  • The latest indictment is without arrest, Yonhap said, citing the prosecutor’s office

SEOUL: South Korean prosecutors have indicted former President Yoon Suk Yeol for abuse of authority, Yonhap said on Thursday.
The indictment is in addition to an ongoing trial on insurrection charges, brought against Yoon over his brief imposition of martial law in December.
The latest indictment is without arrest, Yonhap said, citing the prosecutor’s office. An official at the prosecutor’s office could not be immediately reached for comment.


Indian FM says Kashmir attackers ‘must face justice’

Updated 59 min 58 sec ago
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Indian FM says Kashmir attackers ‘must face justice’

NEW DELHI: India’s foreign minister said Thursday that those who planned and carried out an attack in Kashmir last week that left 26 men dead “must be brought to justice.”
New Delhi blames Pakistan for the gun attack on civilians at the tourist site of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22.
Islamabad has rejected the charge and both countries have since exchanged gunfire in Kashmir and issued a raft of tit-for-tat punitive diplomatic measures.
“Its perpetrators, backers and planners must be brought to justice,” India’s top diplomat Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said in a statement following a conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday evening in which they discussed the attack.
Rubio also spoke to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and in a US readout of the call, told Sharif of the “need to condemn the terror attack” in Kashmir.
Indian and Pakistani soldiers fired at each other overnight along the Line of Control, the de facto border in contested Kashmir, the Indian army said.
It was a seventh straight night gunfire was reported by India.
“During the night... Pakistan Army posts initiated unprovoked small-arms fire across the Line of Control opposite Kupwara, Uri and Akhnoor,” the army said in a statement.
“These were responded proportionately by the Indian Army.”
There were no reported casualties and there was no immediate confirmation from Pakistan.
Indian police have issued wanted posters for three men accused of carrying out the Kashmir attack — two Pakistanis and an Indian — who they say are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organization.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the military “complete operational freedom” to respond to the attack during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, a senior government source told AFP.
Pakistan’s government has denied any involvement in the shooting and vowed that “any act of aggression will be met with a decisive response.”
 


Stay as long as you want, Trump says as chief disruptor Elon Musk eyes exit

Updated 01 May 2025
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Stay as long as you want, Trump says as chief disruptor Elon Musk eyes exit

  • At a Cabinet meeting, Trump hinted at Musk giving up his DOGE role “to get back home to his cars”
  • Musk's Tesla car company had been hit by boycott calls over his role in gutting the US bureaucracy

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said Tesla boss Elon Musk could stay working for the White House as long as he wanted but understood the tycoon wanted to get back to his businesses.
Musk last month said he will step back from his role as the unofficial head of the administration’s cost-cutting “Department of Government Efficiency” to focus more on his troubled Tesla car company.
“The vast majority of the people in this country really respect and appreciate you,” Trump told Musk during a White House cabinet meeting, which could be his last before giving up his DOGE role.
“And you know you’re invited to stay as long as you want,” Trump said, though added that Musk may want “to get back home to his cars.”
Musk, the world’s richest person, has seen his Tesla car company, which is the major source of his wealth, suffer significant brand damage from his political work.
Tesla showrooms have been hit by vandalism and boycott calls in Europe and the United States in a backlash against public service cuts introduced by Musk in his role as a close adviser to Trump.
“You really have sacrificed a lot. They treated you very unfairly,” Trump said of opponents to Musk.
“They did like to burn my cars, which is not great,” Musk responded.
The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reported that Tesla’s board had begun procedures several weeks ago to find a successor to Musk as CEO.
The outlet reported — citing people familiar with the matter — that the board had met with Musk and told him that he needed to spend more time with the company, rather than in Washington.
David Sacks, a close Musk ally who is also a member of the Trump administration, last week said that Musk would not be leaving DOGE but reducing his role.
This was the same plan he carried out during his takeover of Twitter in 2022, he said.
“Once he felt like he had a mental model and he had the people in place that he trusted, he can move to more of a maintenance mode,” Sacks told the All-In podcast.