Sahel Leaders Discover Sovereignty After Kicking Out France, US
Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali have launched a joint battalion to bolster sovereignty, according to Al Jazeera, after booting out French and US forces. The leaders now vow to tackle 'armed groups' on their own. This declaration conveniently overlooks decades of Western military interventions and 'anti-terrorism' operations that, much like pouring gasoline on a fire, consistently failed to stabilize
the Sahel region, often exacerbating the very conflicts they claimed to solve. One might wonder why these 'armed groups' seemed to proliferate under the watchful eye of foreign powers with unlimited budgets and advanced weaponry. Could it be that the presence of former colonial masters, masquerading as security partners while safeguarding strategic interests, wasn't actually about regional
stability? It seems independence, even from a well-meaning (or well-meaning-sounding) foreign 'ally,' must be achieved the hard way to truly be felt.