Now Is Not the Time to Abandon Mali

As long as the Sahel region remains unstable, illegal migrants see it as a highway to Europe. Plus, it will be viewed as a victory for jihadists.

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Earlier this month, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the end of France’s Operation Barkhane in the Sahel region of Africa. The announcement, which came ahead of the G7 Summit, received little attention among the other G7 related headlines or on this side of the Atlantic. Yet France is not alone in the Sahel, where it has been conducting the anti-terror mission since 2014,  and the U.S. has offered support to the operation. Now is not the time to abandon the fight against terrorism in Mali or the wider Sahel.

This is an issue in which there is growing consensus with America’s closest allies. The recent NATO summit communique included notes that “The deteriorating situation in the Sahel region matters to NATO’s collective security.” Perhaps France is hoping that NATO, increasingly free of its commitments in Afghanistan, can pick-up the baton.

The Sahel has for good reason earned the nickname of “coup belt.” In late April, Chadian Gen. Azem Bermendao Agouna took over the country after announcing that President Idriss Déby had died. Though the report remains unconfirmed, the long-time president may have been killed leading his troops in battle against rebels. In a military sense such turns would have been unremarkable, as Déby rose to national prominence in part for his role as a military leader during Chad’s conflict with Libya in the 1980s. But in terms of political history it would mark a rare example of a head of state dying while leading his troops in battle.

And last month, Mali had its second coup in as many years, which some observers have pegged as the reason for the French announcement. In Mali, this new coup is much like the old one. In both instances, the figure in charge has been Col. Assimi Goita. Goita was the ringleader among the five colonels who appeared on television to announce the 2020 coup. Prior to the most recent coup he served as the vce president of the transitional government. The 2020 coup saw both President Ibrahim Keita and Prime Minister Boubou Cisse detained to be replaced with a transitional government. It was the prime minister and president of this transitional government who were toppled last month.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    Deby may have been killed leading troops in battle! That would be an important prominent example of a modern leader with skin in the game (however bad he was or was not). Yet at the same time, in the same paragraph you say that he led the military in the 1980s. That was 40 years ago. Even if he was 13 in 1980, that means he’s at an age now that makes it unlikely he was leading his men in battle. If he really was, that would certainly be an extreme example of skin in the game. But it makes me doubt that this official story is what actually happened.

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    Nick H

    A map would have been a useful addition to this article, as well as some definition of what constitutes the Sahel region. Is it all of Northern Africa or just the area around the Sahara?

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    1. Avatar photo
      JonathanRRogers

      According to Encyclopedia Britannica, it's the " semiarid region of western and north-central Africa extending from Senegal eastward to Sudan." https://www.britannica.com/place/Sahel

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    Paul Montagu

    A failed state like Mali is just the place for militant Islamists to gain territory and grow.
    Like it or not, we're still in a War Against Militant Islamism, but thankfully it's less of one today.

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    Jason Gibson

    didn't know much about Mali. I appreciate this article

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  5. Eric L.

    Mali? Didn’t Bob and Bing go there on one of their “Road” trips?

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    Chris L

    I am always intrigued how the US tends to have things happen to them decades before Europe does, with us learning painful lessons for others to apply (or ignore). Here, this reminds me of the despotic or ineffectual governments of Central America turning that region into a highway for illicit trade smuggling and illegal immigration, making our Southern border situation the mess that it is now. Guess we'll see how Europe does with their version, but based on their response to the Syrian refugee crisis, I am not optimistic.

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    1. Avatar photo
      JonathanRRogers

      What do you think is the right lesson to learn from Central America? For example, was it a good idea for the US to support the brutal dictator of Panama while he smuggled cocaine during the 1980s? Was it good policy to depose and arrest him 1989?

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