Armies out of Control

This report on COVID-19 and State Crimes in the Sahel was written and published in 2020. It explored the relationship between the number of COVID-19 deaths and the similar number of civilians murdered by the armies of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. In so far as there was a correlation between the two sets of data, it was evident that the pandemic provided a degree of cover for theses armies to attack civilian communities and murder their inhabitants.

The report documented the details of these many ‘war crimes’ and concluded that they were attributable to three related causes: pressure from France on the ill-trained, ill-equipped and ill-disciplined local armies to ‘up their game’ in the fight against armed jihadist groups (‘terrorists’); the lust to revenge jihadist attacks on their fellow soldiers by falsely believing that civilian communities were sheltering the jihadists; corrupt state security and military elites bent on their own predation of the states’ finances at the expense of ensuring that their armies were properly equipped and trained. France remained silent in the face of mounting questions from Deputies (MPs), the media and international NGOs while distancing itself from its Sahelian partners. The three Sahel states simply gave false accounts of their operations and denied any wrongdoing. Starting in 2020, the armies of all three countries have undertaken coup d’états and replaced democratic governance with military juntas.