Africa, Religion, War

Alliance of Sahel States (AES) (Red) and ECOWAS (Gray)*

I keep hearing about largish numbers of people being killed in Africa due to terrorist attacks or tribal warfare or something. I've never heard any coherent explanation of the overall situation, so I kind of just wrote them off as just crazed third-worlders running amok. I mean, what can you expect from such backward savages?

Today I came across this piece and the author lays it out pretty clearly. Here's the first couple of paragraphs. Follow the link to read the whole thing.

Russia’s Aims in Africa by Robert Bergkvist

As the 2022 invasion of Ukraine sparked international outrage, a different picture was being drawn half a world away. Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, hosts a peculiar, life-sized statue . Honoring the defense of the city against attacking rebels in 2021, it portrays a woman and two small children, huddled together behind a line of armed defenders: Central African and Russian soldiers, holding assault rifles. Around the time that Wagner Group mercenaries were taking part in the invasion of a sovereign European state, that same group was being lauded as a protector and liberator by a crowd of Central Africans, carrying flowers and Russian flags. How did Russia’s influence in Africa grow so strong and what are its aims going forward?

One recent example is eye-catching. In the beginning of this year, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso announced their withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), instead forming an “Alliance of Sahel States” (AES). Having undergone coups in the 2020s, all three countries are now run by military juntas. There are massive security concerns: the trio is locked in a brutal struggle against  trans-African terrorists. Jihadist organisations to the North with al-Qaeda and ISIS affiliations conduct lethal  attacks  on military and civilian targets, leading to massive fatalities. As such, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are all on the top 10 list of countries affected by terrorism, according to the  2024 Global Terrorism Index . Burkina Faso is considered the most terrorism-affected country in the world with over 2,000 deaths, placing it above states like Israel, Afghanistan and Iraq.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I suspect the Islamic Jihadists that are causing trouble are being funded by Iran. Russia is cozying up to Iran on account of their being neighbors and both are declared enemies of the West. They may not like each other, but they both dislike us more. It's a fine example of the old saw "the enemy of my enemy is my friend", at least until our common enemy is defeated, then you and I can fight.

Or it might be that the Jihadists are followers of some heretical version of Islam and so in Iran's eyes they are infidels and deserve to be destroyed. But if that's the case, who's funding them? Saudi Arabia? Who else could it be? It could be some rich man, but war is an expensive hobby. Far as I know the only people can afford the cash to pay for a war are places (like countries) that have a regular, sizable income, from either taxes, oil, or drugs. Might be Qatar, they have oil.

Are all wars religious wars? Or maybe religion is applied like a blanket over the crowd that is bent on going to war and somehow this makes everyone feel better? Anyway, we've got Eastern Orthodox (Russia), the Catholics (Europe), the Protestants (USA), Islam (Shia in Iran, Sunni in Saudi Arabia, who knows what in Qatar). Thank God for the Himalayas are we would have even more wars going on.

It just occurred to me after I wrote that last paragraph, that if the Catholics are really the dominate religion in Europe, it might explain the elites plan to fucking destroy the European economy by fomenting this war in the Ukraine. Pretty sure most of the elites are either Protestant or atheist. The only way you destroy the Catholic church would be if you destroyed their base, and killing their economy just might do the trick.

*Note about the map: I like the map, because it shows members of the two, regional, competing blocks. Guinea isn't technically part of AES, but the page where I found this doesn't acknowledge the existence of the AES. 

Wikipedia refers to the Alliance of Sahel States as ASS which makes sense in English, but French is the second most popular language in that region, after the native gibberish, so in French it's Alliance des États du Sahel which is how you get E instead of S.

Wikipedia page about ECOWAS