Days after President Trump declared the Islamic State’s caliphate had been eliminated in Syria, the prime minister of one of West Africa’s most turbulent nations urged the United States to shift attention to a rising extremist threat in the Sahel.
Malian Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga visited Washington this week to ask U.S. officials to bolster support for his country’s fight against terrorism, warning that the weakened Islamic State in Iraq and Syria could jump-start the flow of extremists across the Sahel, Africa’s arid northwest, worsen the region’s security and jeopardize American interests there.
“The United States should have the same engagement in the Sahel as it does in the Middle East,” he said in an interview. “Malian security is the essential key to international security.”
Extremist groups, including some affiliated with the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, have wreaked havoc across parts of West Africa and the Sahel. In 2012, al-Qaeda-linked extremists infiltrated Mali, taking control of some of the country’s territory. A French intervention eventually beat them back, but parts of Mali remain a hotbed for extremists.
In December, the White House unveiled a broad Africa strategy that included prioritizing efforts to counter “radical Islamic terrorism.” But the Pentagon has also announced plans to slash by 10 percent its presence in Africa, where about 7,200 U.S. troops and personnel are stationed.
Maïga said Mali is “not demanding a massive presence of American soldiers” but wants Washington to supply training and equipment to help its military counter violence that has claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians this year. After Maïga met with White House national security adviser John Bolton on Wednesday, Bolton tweeted that he had “reiterated our commitment to partnering with Mali to defeat threats from terrorist groups in the Sahel.”
The White House did not respond to requests for comment on the nature of the commitment.
Maïga’s visit came days after one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in Mali in recent years, as Islamist extremism, reactionary ethnic violence and heavy-handed security forces have led to a deteriorating security situation there.
On March 23, gunmen targeted members of the Fulani ethnic group in central Mali, killing at least 157 people — many of them children. The United Nations and the International Criminal Court are sending experts to investigate the massacre.Video shows aftermath of deadly attack in central Mali
Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita fired and replaced two generals March 24 after gunmen killed at least 157 villagers in Ogossagou and Welingara. (Reuters)
The attack may have stemmed from a conflict between Islamist extremists, who have successfully recruited some Fulani, and anti-extremism vigilante groups. Conflicts between Fulani, who are predominantly Muslim herders, and other ethnic groups have erupted across West Africa as competition over land and resources has grown.
In Mali, extremist recruitment of Fulani has amplified those tensions, human rights groups have documented, and self-defense groups have in some cases responded by targeting Fulanis over perceived allegiances to extremists.
The mounting violence between Malian communities has worsened the crisis in parts of Mali that were already prone to extremist attacks. Earlier this month, militants attacked the Malian military, killing at least 23 troops in the same region where Saturday’s attack took place.
Insecurity has spread despite the presence of French troops and a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali.
A third of all attacks and 12 percent of related deaths in the Sahel since November occurred in Mali, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a nongovernmental organization.
Militants have targeted civilians 145 times over that period — a 150 percent increase compared with the same window the year before.
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