HSE Center for African Studies participated in the RIAC roundtable on the Sahel
In his speech, Vsevolod Sviridov focused on the latest trends in the policies of France, the United States, and other Western countries in the Sahara-Sahel region. He emphasized the model of cooperation between France and the United States with the Sahel countries through the mediation of regional centers of power, such as Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Mauritania, Nigeria, and Ghana.
Sviridov noted that over the past 10-15 years, France has consistently reduced its direct involvement in domestic affairs of countries in the Sahara-Sahel region, not only in the military-political sphere, but also in the trade and economic dimension. For example, he mentioned a deal in which the banking assets of the French «Société Générale» were acquired by the Burkinabian «Coris» group, a long-standing partner of the French «Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Group», and concluded that the French side was essentially "nurturing" players to whom it could transfer its assets.
Vsevolod Sviridov also pointed out the transition of most regional players to various flexible alliances in the Sahel. He provided some examples of such cooperation: the US-Morocco, the US-SpainSpain, and the Algeria-Turkey alliances.
«These are flexible two- and three-party alliances, and the wider the circle of players involved in such an alliance, the higher its legitimacy and overall effectiveness», - Sviridov concluded.