In the Sahel, the rise of the Islamic State complicates the fight against jihadism

While visiting the Sahel, French Defense Minister Florence Parly did not expect to comment on the death of a French soldier in the region. But two days after the loss of Brigadier Ronan Pointeau, 24, killed by an explosive device in Mali, the latter was forced Monday, November 4, to advocate "patience", highlighting once again the difficulties encountered in the field by the French forces of Operation Barkhane and the G5 Sahel against the jihadists.

"We will be slow to defeat these groups, which are thriving on the social and economic difficulties of the Sahelian countries," said Florence Parly at the Barkhane Joint Operational Center in N'Djamena, Chad. "It's a fight in which you have to be patient," she said, adding, "Barkhane is not bogged down, Barkhane is constantly adapting [...], it will take more time to build this resilience of local forces. "

It will take time to build this resilience of local forces. We are armed with patience and despite the attacks, let's not look away from the encouraging signs: the G5 Sahel force is gaining momentum, as we have seen with Operation Amane 2. 2/5 pic.twitter.com/yE6l4vWAmD

More than six years after the start of French intervention Serval, followed by Operation Barkhane, jihadist violence continues in northern Mali. Worse, these have spread to two neighboring countries, Burkina Faso and Niger. And the attacks on the first weekend of November showed that the Islamic State Organization (IEO) was gaining momentum in the region.

>> Read: A French soldier killed in Mali, the Islamic State group claims the attack

"The [organization] Islamic State was embryonic in the Sahel, this branch being recognized by the group only lately, but with this major attack, its jihadists are clearly gaining momentum." For the first time, an attack by the [OEI] that leads to the death of a French soldier in this area of ​​the Sahel, "said Wassim Nasr, specialist jihadist movements at France 24.

The rise of the OEI in the Sahel is in addition to the long-standing presence of Al Qaeda on the ground. "They are the ones on the spot who have the most support and the most logistical means," says Wassim Nasr, recalling in passing that they still hold several Western hostages, including the French Sophie Petronin.

Operation Barkhane forgets the political aspect of the situation in the Sahel

However, as shown in the animated map below, the 4,500 French soldiers mobilized in the Sahelo-Saharan strip are intensely fighting against the jihadists. "All the experts salute their daily performance, operational and logistical, on a theater vastly and complicated", judges the general of army Bruno Clément-Bollée, in an also very critical tribune published Monday, November 4, in the World .

An overview of Operation #Barkhane and the jihadist threat since 2017 in central #Sahel (#Mali 🇲🇱, #BurkinaFaso 🇧🇫, and western #Niger 🇳🇪). Sources: @ACLEDINFO and @MENASTREAM. pic.twitter.com/YJumMgsTfO

But Barkhane, since its launch, has a big defect, according to several experts: "The operation carries a purely military vision while forgetting the political aspect, like the reforms of governance in Mali and the fight against certain religious groups, which fill the vacuum left in some regions by a state whose legitimacy has not been rebuilt ", already judged, in an interview with France 24 in December 2017, the researcher Roland Marchal, specialist in conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa and now detained in Iran.

>> To see: Extraordinary summit of Ouagadougou: "The failure of G5 Sahel is multi-factorial"

Two years later, the situation is always the same. "Where are we going in the Sahel?" The question is a loop in Parisian law firms on the subject, decision-making authorities as experts in charge of strategic proposals are silent, as if paralyzed.It seems no longer know what to do to get out of the quagmire Sahelian ", writes Bruno Clément-Bollée in his platform entitled" To get out of the quagmire in the Sahel, it is urgent to rethink our strategy ".

As a result, terrorist groups make politics, notes Wassim Nasr. "They take advantage of the catastrophic economic, political and even climatic situation to recruit more and more," he explains. Thus, in northern Burkina Faso, "the central army is sometimes seen as an enemy by the people there and as soon as there is a burr, it benefits the jihadists," says Wassim Nasr. And in Mali, "the jihadists were pushed into the center of the country and Bamako was forced to arm and train the local militias to cope, details the specialist, except that these militias also have their own agenda."

Finally, the countries of G5 Sahel - Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad - a joint military force that is supposed to take over from Operation Barkhane, do not always pull in the same direction. "We are trying to reunite these African states to fight jihadism, except that these states also have their prerogatives and their own interests that still do not agree with what is called the war on terror," concludes Wassim Nasr.