Three Sahel countries united in a confederation
Photo: GLOBAL LOOK PRESS.
In the Middle Ages, the Mali Empire existed in West Africa – a huge and powerful state, not inferior to many European ones. Here, in the city of Timbuktu, one of the oldest universities in the world operated, and where the Sahara Desert is now located, there were prosperous villages. However, climate change, internal contradictions and the raids of conquerors put an end to the ancient state.
And in July 2024, almost within the same borders, the authorities of three countries – Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – announced the creation of the Sahel Confederation, an interstate entity with the highest integration. Its total population is almost 75 million people and its wealth includes the most valuable minerals: uranium, lithium and gold.
In the future, the republics want to conclude an “economic and financial union”, that is, create a common customs area and a single currency. They currently use the CFA franc, a French colonial vestige (in the 20th century, these lands were controlled by Paris), so Africans cannot issue their own currency and fully control the national economy.
However, all this is a matter of the future. In the meantime, obviously, the main task of the alliance will be joint defence against international terrorist groups operating in the region.
A concrete example: On June 12, 2024, jihadists captured the Mansil government military base in the commune of the same name in northeastern Burkina Faso. This is a remote corner, from here it takes a day to reach the capital, but the border with neighboring Niger is a couple of dozen kilometers away. Moreover, as is usual in Africa, the “border” is only a virtual line on the map; the few official checkpoints are easy to bypass through the desert; and before, the militants acted like this: they ran into a border village and quickly retreated to a neighboring state. Invading there after them would essentially mean declaring war on the entire neighboring republic.
But now, with the help of confederal mechanisms, it is possible to legally carry out joint attacks against the Barmalei. Just now, the armies of the three republics are carrying out an operation to liberate the aforementioned Mansila, and, judging by the balance of forces, sooner or later they will succeed.
“We have common historical traditions; related peoples have always lived in our three countries,” Aliou Tunkara, a member of parliament from the Republic of Mali, said in an interview with the KP.RU website. — The borders between us appeared only during colonialism. I’ll explain it to you so that you understand: Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are like Russia, Ukraine and Belarus – the closest countries. Here in Mali it is difficult to find a family that does not have relatives and connections with Burkino Faso or Niger. That is why the people, of course, support the proclamation of the Confederation.
According to the source, the former owner of these possessions, France, did everything possible to separate the three republics. But now that patriotic governments are in power, everything is back to normal.
“I think the Sahel Confederation will be something like the Soviet Union, when each republic will have its own state, but at the same time will have a common economy and foreign policy,” Aliu Tunkara said, expressing hope that other participants will join the new integration project.
However, it is one thing to declare the creation of an interstate union and another to actually build it. African history knows examples of such formations that quickly sank into oblivion. Thus, in 1972, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi proclaimed the “Federation of Arab Republics” together with Egypt and Syria, but their bloc collapsed as early as 1977: the differences and contradictions between the founding countries proved too great.
But perhaps the leaders of the current Sahel Union will learn from the past and their integration project will be more successful? After all, in all three countries in 2020-23 there were “patriotic coups” and nationally oriented military came to power. Which, reminiscent of the successful cooperation between Africa and the USSR, resumed military-technical ties with Russia. So the new confederation has a powerful ally who has the experience of living with very different peoples in a vast space.
