Josep Borrell, the director of EU diplomacy, said on Tuesday that despite spending millions of euros in the Sahel, Europeans had failed to enhance democracy in this area, which had been the target of several military coups, the most recent of which took place in Niger.
According to Mr. Borrell, during a debate at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the European Union has spent 600 million euros on civilian and military missions in the Sahel over the past ten years, trained approximately 30,000 members of the security forces in Mali and Niger, and 18,000 military personnel.
He nonetheless conceded that it instead helped arm groups “who overturn them,” not forces that support the democratic government. He acknowledged that under this situation, the military operation in Niger does not have “a fantastic future.”
Yet, Mr. Borrell made an effort to justify the actions of Europeans in the Sahel (Mauritania, Chad, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, and Senegal), while also criticising Russian misinformation in this region of Africa.
“Let’s not self-flagellate and above all let’s not start blaming one of the EU countries, which is on everyone’s mind,” declared Mr. Borrell, in an explicit reference to France. The Sahel remains a “strategic” region for the security of Europe and the control of migration, he insisted.
In Niger, migratory flows have been reduced by 75% since 2016, he argued, warning that we should hardly count on the new military regime to be “concerned” about these problems.
Asked what Europeans could do, Mr. Borrell insisted on the need to “not abandon” the Sahel and to support the efforts of the Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in particular in Niger.
Concerning this country where the army took power on July 26, he recommended “personal sanctions” against those responsible for the coup d’état. The EU will only be able to work properly once security is restored in this region of the world, he also explained.
“If 80% of the territory is controlled by terrorists in Burkina Faso, if hundreds of thousands of children do not go to school because the terrorists closed them or killed the teachers, it is difficult to say Europe, what are you doing?” , he asked himself.
Since 2020, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso, and Niger have suffered military coups.
