2024-03-12 17:00:34
Taking advantage of France’s withdrawal, and while Russia is establishing itself as the main ally of the Sahelian military regimes, Turkey and Morocco are increasing initiatives towards the Sahel. However, the latter might face competition from Iran, which, since the coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, has been increasing its initiatives.
Turkey, Iran and Morocco are increasing initiatives aimed at military regimes in the Sahel seeking to diversify their partners.
Fighter planes, combat helicopters… In front of the cameras of Burkina Faso television, at the beginning of March, the director of the Turkish space and aeronautics industry agency deploys a tempting catalog for military regimes struggling with jihadist groups.
The Burkinabè Minister of Foreign Affairs, Karamoko Jean Marie Traoré, reminds him of one of the mantras of the Sahelian regimes whose armies suffer from chronic under-equipment: “For us, it is a question of developing endogenous capacities in order to reduce our dependence “.
A dependence on foreign forces, notably from France and other Western countries, which have been deployed for more than ten years in the region, and are reluctant to deliver offensive equipment to armies accused of perpetrating abuses once morest civilian populations.
Read alsoG5 Sahel: the departure of Niger and Burkina Faso confirms the “brain death” of the organization
While the French troops packed up, the combat drones delivered by Turkey became centerpieces of the devices of the armies of Mali and Burkina Faso, engaged in an asymmetric conflict.
Their strikes would be the cause of numerous collateral victims, according to a report in January by the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW), which the authorities deny.
At the beginning of 2024, Mali received a new batch of Turkish Baykar drones prized for their performance, earning the CEO of the company that manufactures them, Haluk Bayraktar, to be decorated in Ouagadougou in April 2022 on the instructions of the strong man of Burkina Faso, captain Ibrahim Traoré.
“The defense sector is the driving force of Turkish foreign policy in African countries,” underlines Federico Donelli, political scientist and author of a book on Turkish influence in Africa.
While Moscow establishes itself as the main ally of the Sahelian military regimes, Ankara displays an “opportunistic” policy which “tries to position itself as an alternative to the Europeans and to Russia”, he explains.
The former head of Turkish diplomacy, Mevlüt Çavusoglu, “was the first high-level international figure to meet the military junta in Mali following the August 2020 coup. Ankara also adopted a conciliatory stance with the junta in Niger, a key country in the region for Turkey because it is located on the southern border of Libya, where Ankara has many interests”, according to the Italian think tank ISPI.
Ankara is also mulling a trans-Saharan corridor project linking the countries of the Gulf of Guinea to Algeria, another North African bastion of Turkish investments, underlines Federico Donelli.
Competition from Morocco and… Iran
A competing project has already been initiated by Morocco, which said it was ready in September to make “its road, port and railway infrastructure” available to Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad, landlocked countries, whose The first three announced their withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at the end of January.
Also read: West Africa: why are Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso divorcing ECOWAS?
“Turkey has military capabilities. With Morocco we have had excellent relations since independence, and it is more regarding economic development,” according to a government source in Niger.
Morocco and Turkey, whose influence in the region is long-standing, might face new competition from Iran, which, since 2020 and the coups d’état in Mali, Burkina and Niger, has been increasing its initiatives.
In October, Tehran signed several cooperation agreements with Burkina Faso, notably in the fields of energy, urban planning, higher education and construction.
Tehran, also a producer of combat drones, announced at the end of January the creation of two universities in Mali, in addition to the signing of various cooperation agreements.
Iran’s African policy is characterized by “a revolutionary language, a third world and anti-imperialist logic”, with “obvious diplomatic arguments” for countries breaking with the former French colonial power, assures the economist Thierry Coville, specialist in Iran at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (Iris).
But, he adds, “the Iranians sign dozens of agreements and none work. They do not have the necessary financing to support agreements, nor to seriously compete with Turkey or Saudi Arabia.”
Could Iran, which has increased its production of uranium enriched to 60% according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), eventually covet Niger’s uranium reserves exploited until now? by the French company Orano? “It’s our resource, we can sell it to whoever wants,” says a Nigerien government source.
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