Meet the victors in Africa’s coup belt
They are militaristic, nationalistic and keen to cut a deal
The West’s relations with countries in the Sahel seemed to have hit rock bottom in May when Niger ordered America to withdraw its forces by September—having already booted out a French counter-terrorism mission—and welcomed Russian military advisers. Then even this bottom fell out. Last month Niger, which supplies about a quarter of Europe’s uranium, revoked the mining licence of France’s state-owned nuclear-fuel company. Many fear the country will now hand over the rights to one of the world’s biggest uranium mines to a state-owned Russian firm.
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This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “The geopolitics of the Sahel’s coup belt”
From the July 6th 2024 edition
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