How great power competition in the central Sahel helped open a vacuum for al Qaeda

A fight for influence between France, Russia, and the United States in the central Sahel has fomented disaster in the region, after an al Qaeda affiliate filled the vacuum opened by the competition.

As a former colony of the French Empire, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have traditionally fallen in France’s orbit. Paris intervened in Mali in 2013 when a jihadist insurgency threatened to spin out of control, and led a largely Western force in fighting jihadist rebels. After initial successes, the jihadist insurgency grew throughout the central Sahel in the mid-to-late 2010s. After a series of coups by officers dissatisfied with lagging counterterrorism efforts, juntas in the three countries booted France altogether, establishing close ties with Russia instead.

The switch in alliances has coincided with the rapid deterioration of the security situation in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Jama’at Nusrat al Islam wal-Muslimin, al Qaeda’s affiliate in the Sahel, has emerged