IRIN | 11.01.2018
The region has never been so militarised. Here’s an overview of the international players in uniform
by Fabien Offner
In 2011, several African states warned about the likely consequences of an international military intervention in Libya aimed at toppling Muammar Gaddafi. Now, six years after his death, security in the Sahel region has never been worse.
In a domino effect, from 2012, the spillover from the Libyan crisis bolstered the Tuareg rebellion in Mali, which in turn facilitated a jihadist incursion, which, after briefly being halted by France’s Operation Serval, arose from the ashes stronger than ever and spread across neighbouring states.
“Mali’s roots were rotten, it just needed a breeze to make it collapse,” summarised a former Malian minister recently.