...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president used to be Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and was chased out in 2014. Now it's the usual army officer type guy, Captain Ibrahim Traore, running things, who's just doing a bang-up job unless he's already been deposed..., La Belle France ratifies the end of a model of counter-terrorism in the Sahel, opening the way to an uncertain head-to-head between military regimes and jihadist groups.
The last of the 1,500 French soldiers and airmen based in Niger were due to leave the country on Friday, at the end of a long standoff between Gay Paree and the military authorities in Niamey. "This signals a failure, it is the end of French commitment in the Sahel," believes Djallil Lounnas, from the Moroccan University of Al Akhawayn. "It’s the end of major interventions".
Present in the region since 2013, La Belle France had deployed up to 5,500 men within the anti-jihadist operation Barkhane, in cooperation with the Malian, Burkinabe and Nigerien armies. It had also obtained the deployment of special forces from European partners, with the support of the Americans who provided intelligence and logistical support from the Niamey base.
A barrage of coups d'état later, the three capitals demanded the departure of the French, who, in turn, marked a profound loss of Western influence in the region. On the European side, "a military commitment will come down to military and security cooperation, involving equipment, training, etc.," believes Denis Tull, of the German Institute for International Relations and Security (SWP).