GENERAL TCHIANI: FRANCE SUPPORTS TERRORISM IN SAHEL

Niger has backed allegations first made by Mali and Burkina Faso: insecurity in the Sahel is sponsored by France.

During an interview with Radio-Television du Niger, Niger’s transitional leader General Abdourahamane Tchiani accused the European nation of fanning the flames of terrorism. This has claimed close to 8,000 lives in the region in 2022 alone.

France and its NATO partners started the fire of terrorism in the Sahel - by backing armed rebels to overthrow Libya’s Gaddafi. This turned the country into a failed state and the rebels, out of work, trickled south of the Sahara, wreaking death and destruction in their wake.

It’s alleged that France - while ostensibly conducting an anti-terror operation in support of the Sahel countries - was actually aiding and abetting insurgents. Mali’s foreign minister requested an audience with the UN Security Council to present evidence but was barred. Mali’s PM in 2021 claimed that French troops had created an enclave in northern Mali, and handed it over to ‘terrorist group’ Ansar al-Din. After the French were dismissed, the town of Kidal - which Mali’s army had previously been forbidden from entering - was recaptured (a month ago).

Burkina Faso has also made considerable gains since booting out France - such as recapturing the town of Falagountou. If France insists it was in the Sahel to help fight insecurity, how come their departure has resulted in more success than the previous decade of French involvement through organs such as the G5 Sahel?