Blindspot 59 - Russia’s WagnerPMC flush French forces out of Mali, Burkina Faso, Centl Afr Republic?

Blindspot 59 - Did Russia’s WagnerPMC flush French military forces out of Mali, Burkina Faso & Central African Republic?

Buiteboer // From Bunker 42
www.buiteboer.co.za
28/1/23

In this Blindspot we cover:
How three African countries, in course of one year, asked the French to remove their military forces from their countries: Mali, Burkina Faso, and Central African Republic & How in each of these cases, the Wagner PMC, entered the fray to support these governments in their counter-terror, and counter-insurgency efforts against the growing and entrenched threat of Islamic militant movements in the Sahel region

We ask:
- Is Russia beating the French out of their post-colonial strongholds?
- To understand some of the morbid phenomena unfolding in the Sahel, we go back to the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, and the consequences it held for the region.

While the Americans are sending lumbering jet-engine driven Abrahams battle tanks to Ukraine, and the Germans their Leopard main battle tank, it is easy to loose sight of a multiplicity of blindspots converging in many other corners of the planet.

This is the reason why, this Blindspot, will dip into an unfolding story of French military forces being ejected from African states. In the past, one could say six months to a year, French forces have been asked to withdraw from Mali, the Central African Republic, as well as most recently, Burkina Faso.

While these may be significant developments in a region of post-colonial Africa, where the erstwhile former coloniser, maintained deep, significant, and ongoing influence - and physical presence in the form of either business or military presence, it is notable that this can be seen as part of the tectonic shifts in power relations reverberating across the planet.

I - French forces kicked out of three West African nations

On 26 January, 2023, France recalled its ambassador to Burkina Faso. This comes after a year (2022), wherein the country experience two coups. In both cases these coups were led by military officers critiquing their predecessors of not being up to the task of fighting a long-standing, vicious Islamic insurgency in the north of the country. More on that in a moment.

On 15 December, 2022, the last French troops deployed in the Central African Republic, also left the country. This comes as the French government indicated it can no longer support the government’s counter-insurgency efforts. The latter is apparently informed by the CAR’s relationship with the Wagner Private Military company deployed in the country.

On 2 January 2023, a DW report asks what security presence the EU will have in Mali this year. DW indicates that disputes with Mali's ruling military junta and their close relationship with Russian mercenaries over the past two years have caused France, Germany and their EU allies to wind down security operations in the West African country this year, signaling further security risks in the country.

In February 2022, France announced that French forces in Mali would withdraw over a period of months after nearly ten years of fighting unrest in West African country. Relations between the two nations began deteriorating when Mali's ruling military junta took power in a coup in 2021.

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Links

Priyanka Shankar. 2023. Mali: What security presence will the EU have in 2023? Deutsche Welle. 2 January, 2023. https://allafrica.com/stories/202301020189.html

Deutsche Welle. 2023. France agrees to withdraw troops from Burkina Faso. 26 January, 2023. https://allafrica.com/view/group/main/main/id/00084614.html

The Counterterrorism Group. 2023. ADF BOMB ATTACK KILLS 10 IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO CHURCH. 16 January, 2023. https://www.counterterrorismgroup.com/post/adf-bomb-attack-kills-10-in-democratic-republic-of-congo-church

David Gormezano. 2022. Burkina Faso: a history of destabilisation by Jihadist insurgencies. France 24. 25 January, 2022. https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20220125-burkina-faso-a-history-of-destabilisation-by-jihadist-insurgencies

Deutsche Welle. 2021. Why extremist militias are on the rise in the West African Sahel.