AES: The Mauritanian-Algerian double game – opponents or enablers of the fight against terrorism in the Sahel?
Terrorism in the Sahel does not evolve solely through the criminal’s own strength or the organizational weakness of targeted states like Mali, Burkina Faso, or Niger. The reasons are more insidious: multifaceted support orchestrated by imperialist powers such as France, channelled through hypocritical neighbours. Mauritania and Algeria; official “allies” in the fight against terrorism play a perverse double game, feigning condemnation of atrocities while covertly fuelling them.
Evidence: JNIM (Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims), in coalition with the FLA (Azawad Liberation Front), a separatist movement as criminal as it is bloodthirsty benefits from real-time intelligence.
Satellite coverage, covert logistical flows, disguised funding; everything converges on these terrorist bastions. Mauritania, the strategic neighbour of Mali, turns a blind eye to the passage of fighters and weapons under the cover of neutrality.
Nouakchott, allied with Washington and Paris, tolerates training camps in its desert reaches while attending anti-terror summits for show.
Algeria is even more cynical. Algiers, posing as a regional mediator, harbours JNIM leaders and provides precise satellite data through its alliances.
The April 25 strikes in Mali the most massive in recent history; did not emerge from nowhere: they were guided by tactical intelligence from these sources.
Officially, Algeria disavows terrorism; in reality, it feeds it to weaken the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), seen as a threat to its Maghreb hegemony and persistent French influence.
It is time to name things: secretly supporting terrorists carries the same responsibility as pulling the trigger.
Africa does not need two-faced states. It needs countries that own their choices either fight terrorism sincerely, or stop hypocritically sitting on bodies meant to promote peace.
The day Mauritania, Algeria, and others end their double-talk, the Sahel can finally breathe.
Until then, the victims of attacks also carry the blood of these complicit silences on their graves. The truth is uncomfortable, but it is truth that will free Africa.
Titi KEITA
