The way forward for Sahel states

By: Bamigboye Abiodun

IN recent years, the Sahel region of West Africa, stretching from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger to parts of Chad and Guinea, has witnessed a growing wave of anti-imperialist sentiment expressed through a series of military takeovers witnessed in the region. These coups have been justified by their initiators as revolts against French neocolonial domination and the failure of the corrupt local civilian regimes. In the eyes of many of the oppressed masses, the military juntas represent a break from decades of foreign subjugation and national humiliation under both the boot of French imperialism and their local comprador elites. Internationally, they are seen by some as bravely challenging Western imperialism and the relics of colonialism. At the end of April, there were international protests, alongside rallies in Burkina Faso, against threats of a coup against the Traoré led government. However, while these developments reflect deep-rooted social and political dissatisfaction among the masses, they also underscore a critical vacuum created with the absence of a credible, and organised political alternative rooted in the working class. This void obviously allowed the military to seize upon the popular anger of the oppressed, particularly against corrupt civilian elites and the continued presence of foreign troops, to justify their intervention and overthrow existing regimes. Yet, history has repeatedly shown that without a decisive break from the capitalist system which thrives on exploitation, inequality, and corruption, military juntas cannot deliver genuine emancipation for the working masses.

Sooner or later, despite attacks on colonialism and imperialism, they too will reveal their limitations and align with the same oppressive interests they claim to oppose or be overthrown by elements who more consciously work for capitalism. Therefore, what is urgently needed is the enthronement of workers’ and poor people’s governments which will be democratically controlled from below and armed with a revolutionary socialist programme, capable of dismantling imperialist domination and abolishing capitalist exploitation in the Sahel and beyond. The military leaders now ruling Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have made some radical moves in terms of expelling French troops, denouncing the CFA franc, withdrawing from ECOWAS, and asserting a new security alliance under the so-called Alliance of Sahel States. These actions, while resonating with the oppressed peoples and their anti-imperialist aspirations, will most likely end as political gestures unless they are accompanied by a break with capitalism and imperialist dependency. It is true that for over a century, the economies of the Sahel have been structured around the needs of French capitalism largely for the provision of raw materials, uranium, gold, and cheap labour while the CFA franc, controlled by the French Treasury, ensures monetary subservience. French multinationals like Areva, Total, and Bolloré have extracted enormous wealth of the region leaving the working people in the perpetual state of abject poverty, with some of the lowest human development indices on the planet. The junta-led governments may have rejected the formal French military presence, but they remain within the framework of a global capitalist economy that continues to plunder African wealth. As a matter of fact, their growing flirtation with new global capitalist powers, especially Russia and China, obviously showed that nothing has fundamentally changed. This is far from a mere replacement of one imperialist relationship with another, thereby a reshuffling of dependency and exploitation.

History has shown the limitations of nationalist revolts that are not rooted in the independent power of the working class. In the post-independence period of the 1960s and 1970s, some African states—Guinea, Ghana, and Burkina Faso under Thomas Sankara—attempted to assert national control over their economies. These governments were often brought down or sabotaged by a combination of internal contradictions, lack of socialist planning, the absence of mass democratic institutions, and imperialist pressure. Today’s juntas offer even less promise. They lack a coherent programme for economic transformation and rely on authoritarian methods that repress independent mass movements rather than build them. Their shallow populism, nationalist rhetoric, and strategic alliances with rival imperialist blocs are no substitute for a genuine revolutionary transformation of society. In fact, their rule is increasingly repressive. In Burkina Faso and Mali, journalists have been detained, unions threatened, and civil liberties curtailed—all in the name of national unity and security. In Niger, the junta has continued to suppress workers’ organizations and youth protesters who dare to raise demands beyond those dictated by the military.

Only the working class, in alliance with poor peasants and youth, can liberate the Sahel from imperialist domination and capitalist oppression. The masses in the region are already expressing their readiness for change as several spontaneous mobilizations, union actions, and youth protests have erupted across the region in recent years. However, without a clear political direction and a revolutionary socialist programme, this energy risks being dissipated, misdirected, crushed under authoritarian militarism.  So, what is needed is a workers’ and poor people’s government based on an independent organization of the masses such democratic councils (soviets) of workers, youth, women, and peasants in neighbourhoods, workplaces, and communities. Such a government must adopt a bold socialist programme, nationalization of key sectors of the economy like industries, banks, and natural resources under democratic workers’ control and management and reject foreign debt imposed by international financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank.

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It must also establish a democratic plan of production based on social needs, not profit, investing in public services such as healthcare, education, housing, and jobs, through organized redistribution of wealth and planned development. They must also a conscious effort to build a democratic and volunteer-based self-defense force comprises of workers, youth, and community members to replace the capitalist military structure. Military personnel can participate in breaking the power of capitalism and building a new, truly democratic, society as equal partners alongside workers, youth and poor but not as a privileged group. Most important is setting an example in one or more countries and consciously working to unite the struggles of workers and poor across borders to form the foundations of a Socialist Federation of West Africa and, ultimately, of Africa

To achieve this, the need for the formation of revolutionary socialist parties rooted in the working class is critical. These parties must not only oppose imperialism and the local capitalist elites but also reject the illusion that military juntas or so-called “anti-imperialist” strongmen can offer a path forward. Therefore, socialists in the Sahel must expose the dead-end nature of military rule and emphasize the importance of democratic working-class leadership in the struggle for liberation. They must fight for immediate democratic rights such as freedom of speech, press, assembly, independent trade unionism and regular, free elections while simultaneously raising the need for socialist revolution as the only path to true emancipation.

International solidarity is also essential. The struggles in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso are not isolated, they are part of a global uprising of the oppressed against inequality, war, and neocolonial domination. Workers in Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, Ghana, France, and beyond must extend solidarity and link their struggles with those in the Sahel to build a unified international movement for socialism.

By and large, the rejection of French imperialism by the Sahel military juntas may be welcomed by many, but without a complete break from the capitalist system, the masses will remain in chains. Replacing one set of exploiters with another—whether Western, Russian, or Chinese—will not free the Sahel’s working people from hunger, poverty, and oppression.

Only the revolutionary action of the working class and poor masses, armed with a socialist programme and organized through democratic structures of working people, can usher in a new dawn. This is obviously a difficult route, but it is the only road that can lead to genuine freedom, peace, and prosperity for the people of the Sahel and the entire African continent.