Diversion of funds to fight COVID-19 has left the Burkinabe military with fewer resources to combat terrorism.
“The Sahel is reeling under escalating Islamist attacks. Is Africa’s fight against the coronavirus eating up resources urgently needed to combat insurgency?”
The COVID-19 pandemic may have weakened security in the Sahel, according to the excerpted article from German international media outlet Deutsche Welle. With so many resources devoted by Sahelian nations to combating the pandemic, fewer resources have been available to combat terrorist groups. Those resources are more than just financial; they include soldiers who regional governments have pressed into public health services. It is uncertain if the terrorist groups are aware of, or have been able to take advantage of the current crisis but, according to the article, armed terrorist attacks have increased in Mali and Burkina Faso.
The situation has become so bad in Mali that there is concern the government might fall to Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda–linked militant group whose territory has been steadily expanding. In Burkina Faso, Nadiagou became the first village in the country to fall to armed Islamists. A man who escaped the attack said the two police officers guarding the village fled because they could not do anything, a sentiment echoed on a larger scale by a retired Senegalese general who explained that the limited capacities of national militaries in the region are allowing terrorist groups to claim additional territory. Additional factors, such as the flow of weapons from Libya and interethnic tensions, also fuel the growth of terrorist groups. African heads of state, at the recent Dakar Forum for Peace and Security, discussed the need for foreign aid to fight COVID in the Sahel and free funds to build up militaries to combat the growing presence of Islamist terrorist groups.
Source:
Philipp Sandner, “Has the COVID pandemic amplified insecurity in the Sahel?” Deutsche Welle (German international media organization), 8 December 2021. https://www.dw.com/en/has-the-covid-pandemic-amplified-insecurity-in-the-sahel/a-60058754
The Sahel is reeling under escalating Islamist attacks. Is Africa’s fight against the coronavirus eating up resources urgently needed to combat insurgency?
African economies were massively hit by the pandemic, he told DW in Dakar where he was attending the forum, adding that “this economic impact also had consequences on the capacities of African countries to design counter-terrorism strategies.
African heads of state meeting earlier this week at the Dakar Forum for Peace and Security called for easier access to international funding and stronger strategic support to combat Islamist groups.
“They were two [police officers] against many. Even if they had tanks, they couldn’t have done anything,” he said describing how easy it was for the armed group to captured Nadiagou, the first village in Burkina Faso to fall into the hands of Islamists.
Image Information:
Image: Diversion of funds to fight COVID-19 has left the Burkinabe military with fewer resources to combat terrorism.
Source: Staff Sgt. Candace Mundt/AFRICOM?Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/usarmyafrica/26442708444/in/photolist-GhDMYh-GL3WpA-GhDMX5-GL3WoU-GnXmmQ-GnXmkh-GL3WpW-GL3WqC-GnXmn1-GnXmmu-GL3Wpq-23AcdJG-GhDMXA-8D3wYX-CP9EA4-GG6bze-8D3wVx-8D3wWx-CP9bDc-8D3wX4-26817Lk-CP9bCv-88YSaH-23jUwH1-CP9bCa-CP9bCF-88YRWR-7PymMU-8DEsaq-7PykYy-8uNPNs-hS2vPx-8uKMLK-7PygwA-7PunfD-7Puid2-7Pyg4f-8938Rj-7Pyhrd-hS2vGD-8937H1-hS2vLB-hS2vBi-8uNPLJ-88YTs6-hS2vGZ-89368d-8DEqJQ-8uKLGt-Svwee6
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