US declares policy shift towards West African countries

The US has declared a stark policy shift towards three West African countries which are battling Islamist insurgents and whose military governments have broken defence ties with France and turned towards Russia, reports BBC News. The state department announced that Nick Checker, head of its Bureau of African Affairs, would visit Mali's capital Bamako to convey the United States' ‘respect for Mali's sovereignty’ and chart a ‘new course’ in relations, moving ‘past policy missteps’. It adds that the US also looks forward to co-operating with Mali's allies, neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, ‘on shared security and economic interests’. Absent from the agenda is the longstanding American concern for democracy and human rights. The Biden administration had halted military co-operation after coups deposed the elected civilian Presidents of all three countries between 2020 and 2023, with Niger's Mohamed Bazoum still locked up in his own residence. The announcement will resonate in Bamako and allied capitals, where military leaders have built their appeal by striking pan-Africanist themes and rejecting former colonial power France. The Trump administration has made plain that it is unconcerned by the regimes' rejection of the European-style constitutional model of elected civilian government.