Mali, Niger, & Burkina Faso & other Sahel Region of Africa countries or close to

Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have announced a new defense pact called the Alliance of Sahel States.

Skepticism from someone based in UK

A New West African Security Pact Is Bound to Fail
The Alliance of Sahel States is focused more on stoking anti-French sentiment than fighting violent extremism.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/10/24/alliance-sahel-states-security-extremism-mali-burkina-faso-niger/

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/mali-rebels-say-they-have-taken-base-vacated-by-un-peacekeepers-2023-10-31/

My interest in music from these countries, got me curious about the politics and such as well. There used to be a Rolling Middle East, North Africa (Mena) thread but that seems too expansive.

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/un-retreat-mali-disarray-violence-surges-2023-11-03/

The situation in northern Mali is a mess

timbuktu has been under siege for an age hasn’t it? the intersection of francophone/cfa-franc africa and the ever-increasing power of… i guess the best phrase is militant islamic armed groups? … is a geopolitical crisis.

Yep. I had thought situation was briefly getting better in the north, but definitely not now.

btw its good to have a less expansive sahel defined thread imo.

couple of recent(ish) pieces in my bookmarks

How France Was Driven Out of the Sahel

thread on coups in francophone africa

Chartbook #209 The Sudan Crisis And The Sahel Gold Rush

the disastrous role of the cfa in francophone africa was new to me until this year tbh.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/19/coups-climate-and-cost-of-living-key-issues-that-shaped-2023-in-africa

Coups, economy, climate change and more issues of 2023 and their impact in all of Africa

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/sudan/dirty-money-destroying-sudan?fbclid=PAAaYwdNEMWi9XwTFjDpsb4LUnTLF_3zOlTsPNi-wvNAJRujztELiFtSIE3es_aem_Ae4j0qQtB8x66DZIexBX2g0G3rlWVD4mcP83IdD7ulsJiLJCsjhVXh0kF5qOXhwbeF0

Dirty Money and Sudan

Burkina Faso govt says it foiled another coup to oust Traore

Mr Sana said the plan involved a series of targeted attacks on both military and civilian officials. A key objective, he claimed, was to assassinate Captain Traoré, either at close range or by planting explosives at his residence.

“Our intelligence services intercepted the operation in its final hours,” the minister said.

“The plotters intended to kill the head of state and then attack other strategic institutions, including prominent civilian figures.”

He further alleged that the plot was financed from neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire and that authorities uncovered the plan after a leaked video surfaced showing the suspects discussing their intentions.

According to Mr Sana, the conspirators also planned to disable the country’s drone-launch base to prevent any foreign intervention. He said several suspects had already been arrested and investigations were ongoing.

seems to be doing well since they fucked off the French. Improved food self sufficiency and a highway has been built not just for the benefit of neocolonial gold mining plunder. So there is always going to another coup

Yup, was reading about that just yesterday but didn't post about it. Amazing.

Goin' well

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/03/people-burkina-faso-should-forget-about-democracy-military-ruler-ibrahim-traore

A transition to democracy had originally been planned for 2024, but that year the junta extended Traoré’s rule until 2029.

“We’re not even talking about elections, first of all … People need to forget about the question of democracy … We must tell the truth, democracy isn’t for us,” Traoré said in an interview on Thursday with the state broadcaster Radiodiffusion Télévision du Burkina (RTB).

Democracy was “false”, the 37-year-old said, adding: “Democracy, we kill children. Democracy, we drop bombs, we kill women, we destroy hospitals, we kill civilian population. Is that democracy?”

Daaamn he's got us

Yup

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/27/timeline-how-mali-went-from-democracy-beacon-to-instability

Despite being at odds with each other in terms of goals, Tuareg rebels and the JNIM have launched coordinated attacks against the government, which they consider their common enemy.

In July 2024, they ambushed a military convoy transporting Malian personnel and Russian mercenaries to Tinzaouaten in northeastern Mali.

What a mess. Mali has a military government that took over via a coup, Tuareg rebels in the North who want there own homeland, and JNIM (Al Queda & Ansar Dine fundamentalist militant Salafi-jihadist insurgent organization that seeks to replace established state authority with a conservative interpretation of Islamic law(per wiki) with support apparently from Algeria)

Jeez

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/27/why-malis-northern-conflict-has-entered-a-dangerous-new-phase

not a good situation

v good piece on UAE covert sponsorship and provision of materiel and mercenary troops for RSF in Sudan, and the wider UAE political/geographical entanglements. Truly grim]piece (paywalled I'm afraid - FT -lmk if you want a gift link) on UAE covert sponsorship and provision of Colombian mercenary troops to RSF in Sudan. Almost impossible to look at the state of things there in any sustained way (for me anyway), estimated 150,000 dead after just one year, without even addressing the level of atrocities. now into its fourth year - hell on earth.

Sudan is bar-none the worst humanitarian crisis in the world right now... I see great journalists desperately trying to bring attention to it, but most international media just has this "Oh yeah? It's Africa, right? Shrugs" attitude. The Guardian has been pretty good about staying on it

it has, and i think in general, it's been visible in the media - how could it not be with new horrors reported every week. but it hasn't really had the same salience as Ukraine and Gaza, and I'm not quite sure where that salience comes from or not? Political/social (ie protest?) visibility in addition to the regular media cadence of reporting?

Ime and for perhaps obvious reasons, French media tends to cover the Sahel and Francophone Africa more, or maybe I should say higher up the page/running order than the UK media covers African states? May be wrong there.

Because France maintained its colonial status in Africa longer than the UK did, and hence French is spoken in a number of African countries, yep the French media covers Africa a bit more.

Sudan doesn’t seem to have enough spokespersons to make the war by the war by the RSF a bigger story that would lead the shrugging shoulders press and people to get more actively engaged.

arguably still maintains with the CFA franc right? v odd situation.