the birth of the alliance of sahel states is seen by many as a sign of the continued erosion of french and indeed western neocolonialism in west africa. abdullah diop, mali's foreign minister, is seen. here announcing the formation of the alliance of sahel states: les parties contractantes reveront a nutro, the contracting parties will work to prevent, manage and resolve any armed rebellion or other threat to territorial integrity and sovereinity of each of the member countries of the alliance, giving priority to peaceful and diplomatic means and if necessary to use force to deal with situations of breakdown, of peace and stability. usé de la force pour faire face aux situations de rupture, de la paix et de la stability. for more on this historical alliance of sahel states, we have contacted collinston we, he's a global affairs analyst and member of the green party in belgium. thanks for your time sir, today. it's my pleasure to be with you, thank you for having me. for years, the european union back g5 sahel alliance. has reportedly been combating insurgents and terrorists in this afr

now, will the new sahel alliance effectively lead to the end of the... five sahel alliance?relations between france and the three states you know have actually saw, i mean the three states that now make up you know the new um what they call sahel alliance, it have gone very very bad, agitations all over the place, because somehow they suddenly woke up to the inadiquases in um you know the relationship with france and just wanted them uh to leave. so after all of this, they are beginning to find reasons to believe that the new sahel alliance is attempt to actually invigorates um you know the old sentiments um you know around the french imperialism well the fact is that irrespective of whether or not uh the alliance will survive or not, it looks like a line has been drawn on french activities in africa and no one can predict the shape is going to take, but certainly. it will no longer be like it used to be. the west african economic community block, ecowas has threatend to invade niger to ask the new military government that took over power in july. abdal musa, the equas commi

the birth of the alliance of sahel states is seen by many as a sign of the continued erosion of. and indeed western neolonialism in west africa. mali's foreign minister, is seen here announcing the formation of the alliance. the contracting parties will work to prevent, manage and resolve any armed rebellion or other threat to territorial integrity and sovereinity of each of the member countries of the alliance, giving priority to peaceful and means and if necessary to use force to deal with situations of breakdown, of peace and stability, user de la force pour faire face aux situations de rupture, de la paix et de la stabilité. for more on this historical alliance of sahel states, we have contacted collinweke, he is a global affairs analyst and member of the green party in belgium. thanks for your time sir, today, it's my pleasure to be with you. thank you for having me. for readers, the european union back g5 sahel alliance has reportedly been combating insergents and terrorists in this african region. now will the new sahel alliance effectively lead to the end of the g5 sahel allia

the operation seval was initiated. by france, later on, the sahel states formed the gen 5 sahel, a military alliance that was supposed to defeat the terrorist, and so it meant that these countries themselves with their national armies came together to defeat the terrorists, but then frank france was leading what we call the operation bakin, that is the second operation after operation seval, so with that operation, all these countries joined hands with france in fighting against terrorism, now we with france and its former colonies, as i have always said, the arrangement after the post colonial arrangement was not too favorable for the colonies in west africa and beyond, and so france has a lot of influence, but in respect of the security, after operation bakin was formed, the control or the fight against terrorism did not really fair too well for the people, and terrorists like the jnim and isis affiliate were still more uh potent and were attacking international forces and malians, burkinabes, nigerians and the chadians and and so on and so forth, so um, basically the french military endeavor in t

the operation seval was initiated by by france later on the sahel states formed the gy sahell a military alliancethat was supposed to defeat the terrorist and so it meant that this countries themselves with their national armies came together to defeat the terrorists, but then frank france was leading what we call the operation bakin, that is the second operation after operation seval, so with that operation all these countries join hands with france in fighting against terrorism. now where with france and its former colonies, as i have always said, the arrangement after the post colonial arrangement was not... too favorable for the colonies in west africa and beyond, and so france has a lot of influence, but in respect of the security, after operation bakin was formed, the control or the fight against terrorism did not really fair too well for the people, and terrorists like the jnim and isis affiliates were still more uh potent and were attacking international forces and malians, burkinabes, nigerians and... chadians and and so on and so forth, so um, basically the french military endeavor in t

amy: violence in the sahel has plagued niger, mali, and burkina faso for over 10 years, leading to military takeovers in the three countries, which recently formed a defense allianceto fight armed groups and external military intervention. the countries have moved to sever ties with former colonizer france, whose mission to combat terrorism has largely failed or worsened the situation. the u.n. also recently withdrew its forces from mali as the country's military attempts to repel conflicts from armed groups on multiple fronts. a blockade and bombing of timbuktu by al qaeda-affiliated insurgents has led to fears of a possible civil war. this is a timbuktu resident. >> what worries us is that shelling of the town. this creates a real psycho says and leaves a mark on people's minds. i have this fear inside of me. what is more serious is the fact it affects people psychology. amy: in nigeria, reuters reports at least 37 people are dead after a home-made refinery ignited a nearby oil reservoir and exploded into flames. illegal oil refining is common along the niger delta region of nigeria, where local residents living in extreme poverty tap pipelines to make and sell