For about a year, a jihadist insurgency has been active in large parts of the territory. Mali in particular gets accused of being another Syria waiting to happen, but the conflict moves very slowly. The mainstream narrative is that atrocities committed by national gov’t and especially Russian forces are driving people into the arms of the jihadists, basically saying “we warned them about Rudsia, they should have stuck with the French”.
I’ve seen claims that the insurgency is backed by France, Ukraine etc. but I find that it doesn’t address why these groups can find recruits. What’s the state of the national militaries, are the setbacks influencing Russia’s standing with them, and what to make of the claims of war crimes by them?
French intelligence provides arms and funding to organized criminals in a attempt to overthrow the governments of the Sahel
Unfortunately for the French, gangsters don’t make great soldiers
In short, the westerners are westerning very westernly all over the map, but particularly in Africa, and the AES said nope.
