Echeverría calls for the next NATO summit in Madrid not to forget the instability of the Sahel

Madrid will host the NATO summit on 29 and 30 June. In the midst of the war in Ukraine, security issues in Eastern Europe will be at the centre of the discussions and debates, but there are other areas, close to Spain, that require attention. This is the case in the Western Sahel, comprising Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad, where jihadists have become one of the main actors.  "The very active nature of powerful terrorist groups means that we are in one of the most demanding scenarios in the world in terms of security, and much more so for Spain; unfortunately for this area, we are immersed in a situation of distraction. At the next Atlantic summit, we must insist on this issue," said Carlos Echeverría, Deputy Director of the Instituto Universitario General Gutiérrez Mellado and Professor of International Relations at the UNED, during an event held at the Nebrija University. 

Faced with "vulnerable" countries and a young population that embraces terrorism in the face of the corruption of certain political elites in this African area, NATO countries will have to "balance" the treatment of the eastern border with that of the south. In his view, "we have to convince our NATO allies that there is a diffuse situation in the south with dangerous actors that are growing stronger by the day".

Echeverría pointed out that in 2012, with the collapse of the Libyan state and as a result of the Arab uprisings, "the misnamed Arab Spring", the Western Sahel "which was already a hell became a hell in capital letters" for its inhabitants. In an event promoted by the Department of International Relations and Security of the Nebrija University and moderated by the lecturers Gracia Abad and Susana de Sousa Ferreira, the UNED researcher focused his analysis on Mali, "immense in terms of geography and ridiculous in terms of population and defence and security". 

Faced with international surprise and confusion, in 2013 Mali asked France for help in the face of the occupation of its territory by jihadist groups. Today, almost ten years later, France "is in difficulties" and is withdrawing from the country, "and this fuels the terrorists' spirit of victory".

In 2013, the jihadists "disperse and blend into the landscape, but the threat, along with its economic and social causes, spreads to other countries". Right now Mali is "an accumulation of actors and acronyms" such as the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) - with 17,000 troops - France and other allies such as Spain, "who have stepped up" with logistical support and training, the United States and its special forces, pro-Russian groups and terrorists from Al-Qaeda, Islamic State and Boko Haram. "When France intervened in Mali, the Malian armed forces had 15,000 troops and a non-combat helicopter; today they still have practically the same number of troops, with hundreds of casualties... if I told you the number of deaths last week, you would be depressed".

Two coups d'état in less than a year and the disinformation that impacts on the Malian population mean, according to Echeverría, that the situation "has not stopped going wrong" and that European actors "are at an increasing disadvantage".

At the same round table, David Cedena, head of the Strategic Intelligence Department at the Special Central Unit 2 of the Guardia Civil's Information Headquarters, recalled that the main objective in the fight against terrorism is to detect "early warning" in order to prevent attacks, a purpose that involves "exhaustive knowledge" of the threat and its components. Ideological and social factors and geostrategic balances. For him, efforts should be concentrated on Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. In the latter country, "the situation is deteriorating and there are groups without any kind of control".  Here, "the discontent is so great that the population has supported the coup d'état", which, together with the internally displaced persons in the region, make Burkina Faso a "particularly vulnerable" state.

Cedena reviewed international missions in Mali, such as Operation Barkhane (France and the armed forces of local allied countries in the Sahel), EUTM-Mali (European Union) and GAR-SI Sahel, a European project in which the Spanish Civil Guard is involved, and which has created 13 local special units.