Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger need International Support (Islamic Jihad)
Murad Makhmudov, Kanako Mita, and Hiroshi Saito
Modern Tokyo Times
The Sahel has endured decades of relentless upheaval—its social fabric eroded by internal political decay, regional fragmentation, unresolved ethnic grievances, entrenched cronyism, and the long-contested legacy of French influence. Looming over all of this is the expanding shadow of Sunni Islamist insurgencies that now define daily life across vast stretches of territory. Nowhere is this convergence of crises more acute than in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, where democratic governance has collapsed, military rule has hardened, and state authority has steadily hollowed out.
These are no longer episodic emergencies. They are corrosive, structural forces eating away at national cohesion—and radiating instability far beyond national borders.
In a dramatic act of defiance, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have rejected the authority of ECOWAS and openly challenged France’s enduring geopolitical footprint across the Sahel. Their response was bold and symbolic: the creation of the Alliance of Sahel States and the demand for the withdrawal of French armed forces. Initially, the alliance promised renewed sovereignty and strategic independence. Yet the subsequent diplomatic rupture, regional isolation, and absence of sustained international engagement have created precisely the conditions that Islamist insurgent groups exploit most effectively.
In late December 2025, the three states announced plans to launch “large-scale operations in the coming days,” deploying a joint battalion alongside additional military assets. The declaration underscored urgency—but also revealed the precarious reality of security forces stretched thin in a war where time is no longer a luxury.
AP News captured the gravity of the moment with stark clarity: “Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are the most affected as the vast Sahel region south of the Sahara has become the deadliest place in the world for extremism… All three countries have seen coups in recent years and struggled with overstretched security forces.”
Nowhere is the threat more suffocating than in Mali. The Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP) and the more formidable Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) have imposed fuel and economic blockades around Bamako and other strategic arteries of the state. Unlike earlier phases of the conflict—once largely confined to northern and central regions—JNIM’s expanding reach now edges perilously close to the capital itself, signaling a dangerous escalation in both intent and operational capability.
Compounding this instability, Tuareg separatists aligned with the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) continue to articulate long-standing and legitimate grievances in northern Mali, adding yet another volatile layer to an already fractured national landscape.
This pattern is mirrored across the region. Burkina Faso, in particular, is sliding toward a security breakdown that increasingly resembles Mali’s descent. Entire regions have slipped beyond effective state control, civilians endure relentless violence and mass displacement, and governance erodes under the weight of perpetual insecurity.
The danger does not stop at the Sahel’s borders. Neighboring states—Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mauritania, Senegal, and Togo—watch with growing alarm. Further east, the Lake Chad basin remains a combustible hub of militancy, as Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) continue to metastasize from northern Nigeria into Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. Takfiri Islamist ideology now threatens to ignite a far wider regional conflagration.
Niger’s junta leader, Abdourahamane Tchiani, captured the alliance’s defiant posture when he declared that it had “put an end to all occupation forces in our countries.”
While France is the principal target of this rebuke, the message also extends—more subtly—toward the United States. “No country or interest group will decide for our countries anymore,” Tchiani asserted.
Yet defiance alone cannot defeat transnational jihadist movements.
The crisis engulfing the Sahel is no longer localized. It is a regional fault line with implications that stretch from the Atlantic coast to the Lake Chad basin. Continued political, economic, and diplomatic fragmentation only widens the operational space for Islamist insurgents.
Despite escalating tensions with ECOWAS and the profound rupture with France, it is incumbent upon the United States, ECOWAS, the European Union, and the G7 to pursue constructive engagement with Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. Such engagement must move beyond rhetoric—encompassing economic support, calibrated security assistance, and intelligence cooperation—while remaining anchored in respect for sovereignty and genuine dialogue.
Sustainable security in the Sahel will not emerge from isolation or imposed solutions. It requires listening to voices from Ouagadougou, Bamako, and Niamey—cities standing on the front lines of an existential struggle against extremism.
Lee Jay Walker (Modern Tokyo Times) says, “Islamist movements thrive on division. They feed on sanctions, diplomatic paralysis, and political vacuums. A strategic reset is therefore essential—one that allows the current leaderships of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger to engage freely without coercive external interference. Continued isolation and economic punishment do not weaken extremism; they empower it.”
In the end, fragmentation serves only the insurgents. Stability demands engagement, realism, and a shared commitment to preventing the Sahel from sliding further into the abyss.
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