HERO'S WELCOME FOR BURKINA FASO TROOPS

On 17 March, people from the eastern town of Bilanga poured into the streets to welcome Burkina Faso’s soldiers.

Two years after a popular military coup ousted a military leader, Paul-Henri Damiba, schools have reopened and government workers have resumed work. This comes four months after the Burkinabé military regained control of the border town of Falagountou and after neighbouring Mali’s re-took the northeastern town of Kidal. In both cases, the governments said armed militants had held the areas under siege.

Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger—landlocked African countries in the arid Sahelian zone south of the Sahara Desert—have faced a security crisis ever since NATO overthrew Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, spurring armed groups throughout the 5,900-kilometre Sahel region. Burkina Faso had lost up to 40 per cent of its territory to the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, according to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). However, recent developments show Burkina Faso’s new government has been reclaiming land. Terrorism has killed thousands of Africans and displaced millions, creating an economic and humanitarian burden in the Sahel region.

Western forces occupying the Sahel since the early 2010s did little to reverse the security crisis. More terrorism-related deaths occurred after their arrival than before, according to the Global Terrorism Index. Sahelian casualties account for 43 per cent of all terrorism deaths worldwide, compared to just 1 per cent in 2007. This surge, as well as the lack of support from Western occupiers, prompted Mali to kick out France in 2022, Burkina Faso and Niger to order out France in 2023, and Niger last month to nullify a military agreement with the United States.