La Revue Défense Nationale published two articles by Yan St-Pierre, discussing how the Battle of Tinzaouaten changed the Malian conflict and Ukrainian involvement in Africa, and discussing the proliferation of sabotage in Europe.
Compounded by the tensions between Russia, Europe, and the United States as well as by France’s waning influence in the Sahel in West Africa, Wagner became an unexpected leverage asset for West African countries and another Russian sanctions’ target for the EU and the United States.
Burkina Faso is now the 3rd Sahel country since 08/20 to experience a putsch, while another possible attempt was thwarted in Niger in 03/21. It is also the 4th coup in northern Africa in less than a year after Chad, Guinea, and Sudan. This suggests that the deterrents the international community uses to stop this trend are failing and that military officials in the region see little impediment to seizing power.
It appears the security situation in Burkina Faso has become a good indicator of the expansion and tendencies of terrorist activities. In this post, Yan St-Pierre discusses the tactics behind a re-routing of smuggling routes in the Sahel region.
