France in West Africa: A wall in the face of terrorist organizations

Mahmoud Rushdie

The French army yesterday pursued a terrorist group that attacked a gold mine in northern Burkina Faso, killing several of them on their motorcycles, who were making their way to escape the bombing.

The terrorist attack that took place yesterday was not the first, but more than one such attack, most notably in Ouagadougou, occurred in March 2018, killing eight soldiers of the Burkinese police in an incident that the so-called Ansar al-Din group claimed its responsibility of.

Burkina Faso has entered the terrorist network of terrorist groups since 2016, where it witnessed the first terrorist attack by al-Qaeda in the so-called Almoravid Battalion of Mukhtar Belmokhtar, according to the site of the American terrorist group SITE.

The terrorist groups in the Sahel and Sahara region have been active in Burkina Faso since 2013. The most important of these is the Ansar al-Din group; the latter is based in Burkina Faso and is active in the northern part of the country, bordering Mali. In 2017, it declared itself holding under its banner a number of terrorist organizations, namely the Moravids, the Principality of the Sahara and the Massena Brigades, all loyal to al-Qaeda, following the announcement by the Group of the Five Sahel (G5) countries of a joint force to fight terrorism under French and European auspices.

The Sahel and Sahara are steeped in numerous political and social crises, including a poor border control system and poor living standards. Burkina Faso’s poverty rate is 40.1%, according to the World Bank’s October 2017 report and it has a low level of education estimated at 4% in 2014 according to the World Bank.

Alongside the weakness of government departments, multi-ethnic and sectarian groups, these crises have stimulated their transformation into a breeding ground for terrorism and a safe haven for the growth of radical groups.

In 2013, France intervened in Mali under the UN umbrella after the issuance of Resolution No. 2085 to confront terrorist groups that had been launched from Mali to head to neighboring countries. They exploited the fragile borders among West African countries and took Mali as a base for expansion in Niger and Burkina Faso.

French presence in West Africa

France intervenes in West Africa for several reasons, foremost of which is protecting its economic interests in that region and fighting the sources of unrest and chaos in the region by separatist elements and terrorist groups.

Mali witnessed the beginning of the French presence in West Africa, where France aimed to prevent the arrival of terrorist groups to take control of the capital, Bamako. France also undertook more than 10 military operations in the region and established a military base. Military operations included most countries in the Sahel and their main aim was to crack down on terrorist groups.