Decades of Western influence evaporate in the Sahel
Aidan Springs
The ousting of Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum in a military coup marks the latest domino to fall across the Sahel. Almost every country in the region is now under military dictatorship.
Niger is situated in the traditionally difficult to govern Sahel region, the long stretch of semi-arid land between the tropical forests of Sub-Saharan Africa and the mighty Sahara. The French, who controlled Niger for more than half a century, considered the region to be a colonial backwater. To them, it was little more than a sleepy caravan colony, a stopover between the lucrative ports of West Africa and Algiers. After independence, however, that would all change.
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Following the discovery of uranium in Niger in 1957, France decided that it could stick around in the country for just a bit longer. French companies flocked to the country’s massive mines, raking in colossal profits in the process. France, a country that gets more than 62% of its power from nuclear energy, receives almost a fifth of its enriched uranium from its former colony.
For its part, Niamey has (whether happily or not) been a reliable ally of France and the West since this discovery was made. Western security guarantees have kept Niger firmly in the grip of France and the U.S. for most of the past 50 years. Both operate military bases in the country, with more than 1,100 U.S. troops operating a drone base in the country’s north, a crucial asset for counterterrorism operations in both the Sahel and in North Africa. The French have also maintained a large military presence in Niger as part of their policy of Francafrique, in which Paris has maintained a high degree of both soft and hard power within the region.
Yet, it seems the days of Francafrique are numbered.
Beginning with the fall of a pro-French regime in Mali in 2020, and continuing with the collapse of other Western-friendly regimes in Chad, Sudan, and Guinea in 2021, the West’s hold on the region appears to be waning. Last year, a military coup backed by the Russian Wagner Group deposed Burkinabe President Paul-Henri Damiba, leaving Niger as the last holdout of French influence in the region.
What happens next? Perhaps other African nations will move to restore Niger’s elected government. But absent that possibility, it seems likely that Western influence has seen its sunset in the Sahel.
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Aidan Springs is a rising Junior at American University.