The Unraveling of North Africa and the Sahel: How Imperialist Policies Fuel Regional Collapse

Introduction: A Region in Peril

The North Africa and Sahel region stands at a catastrophic crossroads, where multiple crises converge into what can only be described as a perfect storm of instability. From Mali’s collapsing gold production to Libya’s currency devaluation, from Sudan’s endless war to the expansion of jihadist control, the symptoms of a deeper malaise are evident everywhere. This comprehensive analysis examines not only the factual developments across the region but also the underlying structural forces—particularly Western neo-colonial policies—that perpetuate this cycle of suffering and underdevelopment.

Factual Landscape: Multiple Crises Converging

The article presents a devastating panorama of interconnected crises. Mali’s gold production—a critical revenue source—has sharply declined following Barrick Mining’s halted operations and government regulatory changes. This economic blow compounds the security nightmare of expanding jihadist control and state retreat, risking complete territorial collapse. Meanwhile, Burkina Faso faces internal security threats with an assassination plot against junta leader Ibrahim Traoré, revealing the fragile nature of transitional governance structures.

Libya presents multiple paradoxes: while signing major international partnerships for the Misurata Free Zone development, it simultaneously experiences currency devaluation, political fragmentation, and horrific human rights abuses evidenced by the liberation of 200 migrants from a secret prison in Kufra. The country exemplifies how economic aspirations clash with governance failures.

Regional dynamics show concerning shifts: Israel and Morocco’s military cooperation under the Abraham Accords, Russia’s diplomatic outreach to Niger’s junta, and Saudi Arabia challenging Dubai’s gold trading dominance in Africa. These developments occur against a backdrop of escalating militant violence that regional leaders increasingly recognize requires coordinated response—though such coordination remains elusive.

The Human Cost: Suffering Behind the Headlines

Behind these geopolitical developments lies immense human suffering. Sudan’s conflict has persisted for over 1,000 days without political settlement, creating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Human Rights Watch documents reduced public spending eroding education and healthcare access in Egypt, disproportionately affecting lower-income households. Niger’s emergency law grants broad powers at the expense of civil liberties, while drug trafficking through the Sahel region finances armed groups and exploits weak state capacity.

The article references expert analyses that paint a grim picture: Tahani Elmogrbi argues that Tripoli’s stability spectacle masks Libya’s inflation and collapsing services; Hafed Al-Ghwell critiques the U.S. National Security Strategy for reducing Africa to a transactional resource frontier; and Safae El Yaaqoubi observes Morocco’s two-speed development leaving half the country behind.

Imperialist Frameworks and Neo-Colonial Exploitation

The fundamental tragedy of North Africa and the Sahel lies in how international systems—created and dominated by Western powers—perpetuate rather than alleviate these crises. The U.S. expansion of visa suspensions affecting African states represents more than diplomatic friction; it exemplifies how Western nations weaponize policy tools to maintain leverage over Global South nations. This coercive diplomacy undermines African sovereignty and economic development while framing migration—often driven by instability that Western policies help create—as a security threat rather than a humanitarian concern.

The Abraham Accords, while framed as normalization agreements, essentially function as military and economic partnerships that serve Western strategic interests in the region. Israel and Morocco’s military cooperation plan reinforces this neo-colonial framework where Middle Eastern and African nations become pawns in great power competitions rather than autonomous actors pursuing their people’s interests.

Russia’s diplomatic outreach to Sahelian juntas, while often framed as anti-Western resistance, ultimately represents another form of great power manipulation. The naming of a new ambassador to Niger signals not solidarity with African sovereignty but rather Moscow’s strategic positioning to access resources and military influence—another external power exploiting African instability for its own benefit.

Resource Extraction and Economic Subjugation

The economic dimensions reveal perhaps the most brutal aspects of neo-colonial exploitation. Mali’s gold production collapse demonstrates how foreign mining operations—when disrupted—can devastate national economies that have become dependent on resource extraction rather than diversified development. The move by a leading African gold producer to renegotiate contracts and increase royalties represents a positive shift toward reclaiming resource sovereignty, though this remains the exception rather than the rule.

Libya’s currency devaluation amid political fragmentation shows how economic stability becomes collateral damage in power struggles often fueled by external interference. The country’s experience exemplifies how nations rich in resources remain poor in development when international systems prioritize extraction over genuine partnership.

Saudi Arabia’s establishment of a gold trading hub in Africa, particularly Sudan, while challenging Dubai’s dominance, ultimately represents Gulf power competition playing out on African soil rather than African-controlled economic development. These developments continue the pattern of external actors treating Africa as a resource frontier rather than a continent of sovereign nations with their own economic aspirations.

The Failure of International Governance

The international community’s response—or lack thereof—to these cascading crises reveals the fundamental hypocrisy of the so-called “rules-based international order.” The United Nations envoy meeting with Egyptian officials as Sudan’s conflict passes 1,000 days symbolizes the impotence of international institutions when Western strategic interests aren’t directly threatened. When Global South nations suffer, the international system responds with meetings and statements; when Western interests are affected, we see rapid mobilization and intervention.

Human Rights Watch’s documentation of rights abuses in Egypt, Niger, and elsewhere highlights how authoritarian governance often receives tacit Western support when it serves strategic interests. The reduction of public spending on education and healthcare—essential human rights—continues with minimal international pressure because it doesn’t threaten Western economic or security priorities.

The drug trafficking routes through the Sahel, which strengthen armed groups and worsen instability, persist partly because Western nations focus on intercepting drugs destined for their markets rather than addressing the structural conditions that enable trafficking. This reactive approach typifies how Global South security concerns receive secondary priority.

Toward Authentic Solidarity and South-South Cooperation

The solution to these intersecting crises cannot come from the same Western powers and international institutions that have perpetuated them. Instead, the path forward must center on genuine South-South cooperation that rejects neo-colonial frameworks and builds relationships based on mutual respect and shared development goals.

Civilizational states like India and China offer alternative partnership models that—while imperfect—at least begin from principles of non-interference and mutual benefit rather than extraction and domination. The growing collaboration among Sahel states, however challenging, represents a promising move toward regional solutions to regional problems without external imposition.

Africa’s leveraging of critical minerals to drive inclusive growth—as discussed in the Brookings Institution analysis—must occur on African terms, not as response to geopolitical competition between Western and Eastern powers. The continent’s resources should benefit its people first, not become bargaining chips in great power rivalries.

Conclusion: Reclaiming Sovereignty, Rejecting Exploitation

The devastating convergence of crises across North Africa and the Sahel represents not merely regional instability but the catastrophic failure of an international system designed to maintain Global South subjugation. From Mali to Sudan, from Libya to Niger, the patterns repeat: resource extraction without development, security partnerships that increase insecurity, and diplomatic engagement that perpetuates dependence.

The time has come for radical reimagining of international relations—one where Global South nations assert their sovereignty, reject neo-colonial frameworks, and build partnerships based on genuine solidarity rather than exploitation. The suffering of millions across this region demands nothing less than complete transformation of a system that has too long treated African lives as expendable in pursuit of Western interests.

Our hearts must break for the victims of these crises, but our hands must work to build alternatives. The future of North Africa and the Sahel must be written by its people, not dictated by foreign powers whose interests never align with African dignity and development.