Sahel Tension due to War of Interests between USA and France, Military expert says
University professor and political analyst, Ahmad Athimi, warned of the rapid developments in the Sahel region, especially the military coup, which ended the rule of Mali President, Amadou Toumani Toure, adding that Algeria is the main target of the coup.
- Athimi defended the ousted president , saying: “In fact, President Amadou Toumani Toure, made some mistakes, particularly in the last days of his reign, but he was among the good listeners when talking with Algeria on the problems of the Sahel.
- The political analyst and expert on military affairs,asserted that the problem facing the region after the recent events, “Is not only ousting a president and replacing him by an another, but is also the structure of Mali State, which have become threatened with disintegration by the local and international stakes ” noting that “parties which criticized Mali government in the past, should provide help to it in order to maintain the continuation of this State “ .
- “The question in Mali today, is not about the coup, but on the reasons that encouraged a military coup in this country .. We are facing an entity that did not live up to the rank of state.The coup leaders say that what they did was in response to negligence of the central government in the northern areas, which fell in the hands of the rebels, but the problem is that number of the military forces which does not exceed twenty thousand, and have not enough potential to counter-insurgency”, he explained.
- Athimi included what is happening in Mali, in the category of the race for influence, between France and the United States of America, in the Sahel region; “There is the will to re-divide the Arab and African countries, as happened in the twenties of the last century, through what is known as Sykes-Picot Agreement.I have already said that the Sahel region is on the verge of a disaster.”
- The former military official developed his point of view using a study prepared by the U.S. Army Chief of Staff , which says that the Sykes-Picot agreement which divided the Arab region, did not respect the map of “blood”, speaking about dividing Iraq into three countries, and Sudan into two states, and a state taking parts from Syria and Jordan and the West Bank, and talked also about Kurds, which means that something is cooked to respect the ”map of blood ” in the Sahel region, through boosting the project of the Tuareg state” .
- “Powerful countries are working to find a foothold in the Sahel region, rich whith natural resources (oil and uranium).The growing desire of the Touareg tribes to establish their own state in the region and the weakness of the Sahel countries (Mali,Niger, Mauritania, Chad), automatically feeds these ambitions.USA plans to bring 20 percent of its needs of oil from these countries, and this requires an outlet to the region that experiences an unprecedented invasion of the Chinese”.