The terrorist threat is progressing in the Sahel and, at the G7 summit that opens Saturday, August 24 in Biarritz, there will be talk of financing the G5 Sahel. This instrument of military cooperation and development was set up by five countries in the region (Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Chad) in 2014 to fight against terrorism.
French President Emmanuel Macron wants to convince Japan and Canada to join the Sahel Alliance, created by Paris and Berlin in 2017 to finance development projects and better coordinate international aid in this conflict-ridden part of Africa inter-communal communities whose populations in remote areas are abandoned by States. The so-called international cooperation platform already brings together eight European Union member countries in addition to the United States.
In Biarritz will be present Burkina Faso President Roch Christian Kaboré, acting president of G5 Sahel. His country was bereaved on August 19 by one of the worst attacks by terrorist armed groups against the army in the province of Soum in the north. The unclaimed act caused about 20 deaths in the military ranks. In the aftermath of the attack, Roch Christian Kaboré said on Twitter: "I call on the Burkinabè people to remain standing in this long-running fight against terrorism. Burkina Faso will not give up part of its territory, even if we all leave our life there ".
I call on the Burkinabè people to remain standing in this long-running struggle against terrorism.
Burkina Faso will not give up part of its territory, even if we all leave our lives there. # Koutougou #lwili pic.twitter.com/n3WWZrKhep
"The jihadist attacks against military targets in Burkina Faso and elsewhere in the Sahel are intended both to show their firepower, but it is also a way to refuel in weapons and in mime. This type of attack sometimes comes as a prelude to wider attacks, "said Lori-Anne Theroux-Bénoni, director of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), based in Senegal during an interview in France. 24.
New provocation
The latest attacks provoke jihadist groups to defeat the joint G5 Sahel force, which is struggling to gain in efficiency, although in the long run it is expected to have 5,000 troops. The attack in Burkina Faso is particularly reminiscent of the defeat of the regional force, when one of its three command posts in central Mali, in the Mopti region, was destroyed in June 2018 by elements of the Support Group. Islam and Muslims (GSIM) of the Tuareg terrorist Iyad ag-Ghali.
It highlights especially the difficulty to fight jihadist groups on a desert territory five times larger than France. And the G5 Sahel is still waiting for financial contributions to its operation, estimated at 400 million euros, promised by the international community since its creation in 2014.
In March, Mauritanian general Ould Sidi, then in command of the military force, sounded the alarm. He deplored the lack of resources following an in-camera ministerial meeting organized by France with members of the Security Council. "We are more than 4,000 men but major equipment is still missing and slow to set up. We are still waiting for means that are slow in coming. "
He seems to have been heard. Although support remains insufficient, the European Union announced in July in Ouagadougou, aid of 138 million euros, which is to strengthen the military capabilities of the G5. A support still essential since, according to André Bourgeot, researcher emeritus at the CNRS, contacted by France 24, "the national armies have not been particularly trained in this type of conflict". But, he added, in their defense: "Operation Barkhane piloted by France has not been a success either. And the jihadist groups are spreading to the coastal countries ".
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"The jihadist groups have demonstrated their ability to adapt precisely to the response of the devices that are in place and generally to circumvent them," said William Assanvo, ISS researcher seconded to Burkina Faso, contacted by France 24. "They are extremely mobile and move when the security devices are reinforced at a given location," adds the researcher. In Burkina Faso, the terrorist threat has shifted from the north to the east of the country. While in Mali, she moved to the center.
The G5 Sahel, a failure
More emphatically, ISS Director, Lori-Anne Theroux-Benoni, bitterly notes that the military component of G5 Sahel has been a failure. Above all, it has taken over the various other axes of the regional initiative that give priority to development and governance. "Armies are helpless in the face of an asymmetric threat. So we should not look for the solution solely in the action of the defense and security forces but in the way, we think the state governance in a much broader way, "she analyzes.
In a study published in March 2019 by the Foundation for Strategic Research, the researcher Nicolas Desgrais explained that "contrary to a common idea since the media launch of the G5 Sahel Joint Force, the priority was put on development". And it is normally "on its ability to operationalize a security-development nexus, idolized by outside donors, that the G5 should be judged". The G5 Sahel must therefore "urgently undertake the reforms that will enable it to consolidate and preserve its legitimacy as a framework for inter-state regional coordination," he added.
"We have to put things in their context. This force faces financing problems that limit these actions. It should not be expected that it solves the problem alone. The military tool is just supposed to provide security in areas where development, resilience, infrastructure, governance need to be strengthened, "adds Lori-Anne Theroux-Bénoni.
Emmanuel Macron did he understand by initiating with Angela Merkel the Sahel Alliance and mobilizing several other partners in Biarritz? According to a note from the Quai d'Orsay, donors grouped within the Sahel Alliance must finance more than 600 projects in the countries of the region, for a total amount of nine billion euros.