Over the past five years, the Sahel has been reshaped by a series of military coups justified by promises to overhaul oppressive neocolonial systems. Many citizens looked upon the soldiers who seized power as liberators; men who would break the colonial grip that weighed heavily on their countries long after independence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each junta promised freedom<\/a>, a new focus on development, and protection \u2013\u00a0not only from jihadist insurgencies but also from spectral threats of new superpowers inheriting France\u2019s role as exploiter. The strongmen leading Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are, similarly and in their own way, using anti-imperialist rhetoric to mask new oppressions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n France\u2019s post-colonial presence in the Sahel rested on three pillars. Economically, it created the CFA franc<\/a>, a currency still used in much of West Africa today. The CFA ties national reserves to the French treasury and limits<\/a> countries\u2019 independence over their own finances. Economic crises were slow to be resolved, imported goods stayed expensive, local industries stagnated, and jobs remained scarce. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Militarily<\/a>, France never really left the Sahel after the colonial era. Paris built bases, trained armies, and launched repeated military interventions that often failed<\/a> to protect the people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Then there was the cultural imposition<\/a>, which fuelled French influence in the region. French remained the language spoken in most key institutions, including government, universities and schools; elite members of society only spoke French and local languages were often looked down upon. Many grew resentful of living in a system that treated their culture as inferior. Increasingly, France was seen as a bootheel<\/a>, holding the people down on a personal level \u2013 and holding nations down from their potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The nature of France\u2019s presence in the Sahel opened citizens\u2019 minds to embracing any alternative. Junta leaders positioned themselves as that alternative; the escape route from a system that had oppressed the region for over a hundred years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Mali, Colonel Assimi Go\u00efta<\/a> first emerged as a key figure in the anti-government protests against then-President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta. He led a military coup in 2020, where he initially placed himself as the Vice President of the country. Go\u00efta framed himself, and his movement, as reflecting the people\u2019s will<\/a> for a necessary reset that would end corruption and foreign meddling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For a population exhausted by years of stagnation and insecurity, his message signaled renewal. The people celebrated him as a man of discipline and conviction, someone \u2018who did what needed to be done\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Soon after, Go\u00efta oversaw a second coup<\/a>. He ordered both the Transitional President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane be arrested and removed after they approved a government reshuffle without his agreement. With that move, Go\u00efta took direct control \u2013 and the facade of a joint military-civilian transition collapsed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n True freedom in the Sahel will not be sold as \u2018resistance\u2019 by new oppressors with familiar economic interests in national resources<\/p>\n\n\n\n As with many dictatorships, at first Go\u00efta seemed to deliver on his promises. He tackled corruption left by the previous government and distanced the country from France\u2019s influence<\/a>, earning admiration across the region. But autocrats are always looking to strengthen their hold on power. Go\u00efta\u2019s anti-foreign meddling stance was quickly undermined when he allowed Russia\u2019s Wagner mercenaries<\/a> into Mali to support its fight against jihadists in early 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Russia, like the West, rarely helps for free. The price became clear when Wagner-linked companies such as Mali M Invest and Alpha Development were granted gold-mining concessions<\/a> in the country\u2019s southern region. While direct gold exports to Russia are conveniently opaque, Moscow\u2019s footprint in Mali\u2019s gold sector has expanded sharply under Go\u00efta\u2019s rule, and with it, the Kremlin\u2019s influence in Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Go\u00efta\u2019s promise to restore democracy has long-since expired. After vowing<\/a> democratic elections would come after an 18 months \u2018transition period\u2019 following the 2020 coup, he rewrote the constitution and extended military rule<\/a> to 2030. Under the banner of sovereignty, his government has censored journalists, jailed critics<\/a>, and at one point, banned<\/a> all political activity in the country. Mali\u2019s liberator has become its warden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Probably the most visible leader of the recent juntas is Captain Ibrahim Traor\u00e9<\/a>, a man who likens himself to Thomas Sankara<\/a>, Burkina Faso\u2019s most revered revolutionary \u2013 who talked of freedom from both imperialism and complacency. When Traor\u00e9 came to power in 2022, he painted a picture of freedom and protection to crowds who admired him as the second coming of Sankara; young, uncorrupted, fearless, and very anti-France. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Traor\u00e9 expelled French troops<\/a> at the first chance he could and spoke of a new focus on the people of Burkina Faso. However, he soon followed in Goita\u2019s footsteps, turning to Russia<\/a> and Turkey<\/a> for arms and \u2018advisers\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n His government has since scrapped the country\u2019s electoral commission and has arrested or intimidated journalists<\/a> and activists. It has suspended political parties, conscripted critics<\/a> into the army and passed<\/a> new \u2018family values\u2019 laws criminalising homosexuality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Traor\u00e9\u2019s reign reveals the power of propaganda: his image<\/a> across Africa remains powerful, even as his rule begins to mirror the very authoritarianism he has vowed to oppose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n General Abdourahamane Tchiani, head of Niger\u2019s presidential guard, overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum in July 2023<\/a>, claiming to save the nation from Western domination. His coup echoed Goita and Traor\u00e9\u2019s, wrapped in the same language of liberation and sovereignty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tchiani initially pledged a three-year transition<\/a> to restore civilian rule following his July 2023 coup, but that promise of course faded. In July of this year, he was formally sworn in as president for a further \u2018flexible\u2019 five-year<\/a> \u2018transitional\u2019 term, extending military control well beyond the promised timeline. Tchiani\u2019s closer alignment with Russia and Turkey<\/a> also echoed the actions of his Sahelian counterparts. Moscow\u2019s state nuclear company Rosatom has already begun courting Niger\u2019s vast uranium reserves<\/a> \u2013 the same resource that once fuelled France\u2019s energy grid. Security deals with the Kremlin have likewise replaced Western cooperation as foreign troops continue to stomp the Nigerien soil, only under a different flag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new wave of populist strongmen found in Go\u00efta, Traor\u00e9, and Tchiani have shown that in the Sahel, the rhetoric of anti-imperialism can just as easily become the mask of a new empire. From Bamako to Kampala, defiance of \u2018the West\u2019 has become a convenient anthem for regimes that are increasingly silencing their own people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Authoritarian populism thrives by mirroring what it claims to oppose, using rhetoric of freedom to fortify control. True freedom in the Sahel will not be dressed up in military uniform. It will not be sold as \u2018resistance\u2019 by new oppressors with familiar economic interests in national resources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Real liberation lies in the people, whose quiet but firm demand for their needs to be prioritised, for power to be answerable, for dignity to replace dependency is unwavering. Only the people of Sahel can provide the promises so many have failed to deliver.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The junta regimes of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger present themselves as revolutionary and anti-imperialist. Their hollow rhetoric masks authoritarianism and new forms of foreign influence, argues Joshua Shangobiyi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":46735,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[278,1852,2269],"tags":[3147],"class_list":["post-46733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa","category-colonialism-imperialism","category-democracy","tag-joshua-shangobiyi"],"yoast_head":"\nColonial imposition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Go\u00efta for gold<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Muddied footsteps<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Transition without end<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The illusion of liberation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n