Implications of US Retreat from the Sahel
As America’s global rivalry with Russia and China intensifies, its ability to project military, diplomatic and economic influence in Africa faces mounting challenges.
America’s growing retreat is particularly visible in the Sahel – a geographic belt of now junta-run countries and the most conflict-ridden region in the world.
This arid African stretch includes jihadist conflicts in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger; rampant banditry and Boko Haram terrorism in northern Nigeria; Jihadist offshoots around the Lake Chad region; a civil war in Sudan; a smoldering ethnic conflict in northern Ethiopia; and finally the al-Shabab terrorist group in Somalia.
Successive coup-plotting regimes in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have ousted weak civilian-led governments, angrily railed against the presence of the former colonial power, France, and turned toward Russia and China for support.
From Guinea in West Africa to Sudan in the east, all countries in the Sahel are now run by military men.