Mali and Islamist Terrorist Attack (Russia)
Kanako Mita and Noriko Watanabe
Modern Tokyo Times
Another Islamist attack in Mali is responsible for killing many soldiers. Other nations throughout the Sahel region to West Africa face the same menace.
ISIS (Islamic State – IS) and several terrorist branches of al-Qaeda (al-Qaida) roam vast regions of the Sahel. Hence, millions of people have fled parts of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and other nations linking West Africa (Nigeria).
In the latest terrorist attack claimed by ISIS in the region of Menaka, this terrorist group claims to have killed at least 16 soldiers from Mali.
Africa News (AFP) reports, “The Ménaka region, in the northeast, has been the scene for several months of a push by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (EIGS). The attacks of the jihadist group have claimed, according to a recent report by Human Rights Watch, “hundreds” of deaths and forced thousands of people to flee the area since the beginning of the year.”
Voice of America reports, “Mali has since 2012 been battling a jihadist insurgency that began in the north and spread to the center of the country and to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.”
Accordingly, the transitional government in Mali became disillusioned by the role of France and developed stronger ties with the Russian Federation. Burkina Faso and other nations are also moving closer to the Russian Federation and further away from France.
Hence, Niger is also currently facing internal convulsions that have impacted regionally. This also entails a pro-Russian Federation angle and animosity towards France.
The demise of Colonel Gaddafi in Libya (2011) by major NATO powers (America, France, and the United Kingdom) destabilized the fragile Sahel region to the core. Therefore, internal terrorist forces, ethnic demands against central forces, international jihadists, and criminal forces benefitted from the failed policies of America, France, and the United Kingdom.
Lee Jay Walker says, “The international community needs to work with Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and other regional nations by listening to their views and working out a strategy collectively. If not, regional tensions will boost various Islamic terrorist groups and hinder progress.”
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