Credible sources have intimated the Sahel Solidarity Campaign Network (SaS-CaN) that having failed to create division among national armies in the Sahel region, former colonial France has now opted to fund a multimillion dollar news network and propaganda campaign. This is a serious concern because the move defines France’s unending interference in the affairs of the Sahel and the possible long-term consequences for the region’s peace, stability and development. The move also crosses a dangerous line.
The overall aim of this latest action by France is to push malicious information propaganda to manipulate public sentiment, incite violence and hatred, provoke ethnic conflict and above all, delegitimize authorities. The former colonial power has recruited multiple social media platforms and individuals to run an anti-Sahel information campaign network, with the extensive use of false narratives, bots, coordinated network machinations and fake news.
What is alarming in this move is that it appears France is preparing for an all-out invasion of the Sahel, using cheap pawns, traitors and client governments in Africa to implement regime change in Bamako (Mali), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) and Niamey (The Republic of Niger). Among those bidding this spurious agenda mostly are Europeans, African refugees in the diasporas and other recruits in West Africa. They have been hired and paid lucrative sums to fabricate misinformation and disseminate disinformation via IT cells, bots, verified African-based handles, and troll accounts on social media platforms.
This spurious information agenda spearheaded by France is nothing but a hybrid war against leaders of the Sahel region. It is an ongoing criminal war and has attracted people driven by greed, revenge and jealousy, and who now see an opportunity to launch cheap and orchestrated attacks against the AES in their social media platforms.
We have referred to this spurious information agenda as a hybrid war because it is an undeclared action and one that is associated with malicious media propaganda, the spread of fake news and increasingly utilized disinformation strategies that are being used to manipulate public opinion and recruit members. With no doubt today, the Sahel region is confronting numerous challenges on its colonial borders, with some of the contents that appear in most of the social media coverage point towards the destruction of the AES block.
The playbook is all too familiar, engage the vassal social media platforms, concoct fake news, spread them fast like wild burning fires, make vague promises to form people’s appetite, arouse tempers, manipulate public opinion to lull domestic traitors, recruit support within the security apparatus and then release the bullet to kill. That is how conspiracy theory aligned with the Deep State is created to discredit leaders and implement regime change through a coordinated media campaign strategy. What is alarming in the case of the Sahel region is that, France’s funded campaign is filled with doctored pictures and videos, which are uploaded to defame the AES leaders.
For months now, this campaign has brought together various social media bloggers, who were recruited and paid to spread video pushing narratives favourable to Paris. Many of the videos published in the targeted social media platforms contain commentary on events and issues in the Sahel region, such as topics related to domestic and foreign policies. While the views expressed in those videos are not uniform, the subject matter and content there in the said videos are carefully manipulated to suit Paris’s demands and tastes.
This anti-African campaign targets the AES members-states internal stability as well as international stature. Today, France stands indicted and guilty of exploiting the digital technologies, to target the AES block through coordinated disinformation campaigns, fake news, and cyberattacks. In this campaign also, fake accounts and bots are used to amplify false flag narratives, particularly around sensitive topics like nationalization and the ongoing war against terrorism in the Sahel region.
In our view, and which is the obvious, France is spreading fake news about the AES and the revolution in the Sahel region to achieve the following goals: Firstly, to destabilise the AES from within, and second, to spread false information about the AES and the revolution in the Sahel region in the global community to taint the region’s diplomatic and economic stand.
France is also making efforts to counter the AES position towards neighboring ECOWAS block. Say for instance, France has continued to exert pressure to bear on the European Union to take tougher stands against the AES and its authentic revolutionary leaders. Similar pattern of indoctrination are implemented amongst the Sahel population to create dissenting views and discredit the AES among other Africans. To this end, we want to opine that France is fighting relentlessly to prove a perception internally and globally that the AES cannot stand the test of time and that ECOWAS must do everything to reverse the revolution in the Sahel region.
France allies have also been implicated in hiding behind the vassal social media to manipulate public emotions, by creating unnecessary ethnic tensions through targeted misinformation campaigns. We cannot ignore the fact that the media, particularly the social media has been a tool used mainly by foreign powers and powerful individuals to sow the seeds of violence, and to spread skewed narratives, fake news and, divisive and harmful contents. With the world now returning to multipolar universe, foreign powers have opened a new frontline to scramble for control and domination over Africa’s abundant and rich mineral wealth and natural resources.
In this information age, however, the rising internet users have made groups and individuals extremely vulnerable to manipulation of the brain. The news media and social media for instance, have their own role to play in spreading out disinformation and misinformation materials, and sometimes provoking or cause to provoke war on line. The situation sometimes is aggravated when fake news or false narrative is allowed to replace the truth and facts.
These combined media channels-the news media and social media-stand today as the main platforms used or abused by political leaders or powerful groups or individuals to promote their egoistic interests and mislead public opinion. These at most times lead to conflict among ethnic groups, or civil wars in the society, or political violence, or lead to inciting hatreds among communities and nations or suppress alternative views of others.
Having stated the above, the Sahel Solidarity Campaign Network (SaS-CaN) categorically rejects France’s orchestrated malevolent campaign, aimed at promoting misleading, baseless and fabricated propaganda against the AES and its leaders. The French President, Emmanuel Macron has always defended his government’s policy towards the AES and the Sahel region by exploiting the social media under the criminal guise of freedom of speech.
Through this statement, we want the people of Africa to understand that the right to freedom of speech is not an excuse to disseminate potentially damaging information. The African continent has suffered from media frenzy and global mistrust, which gives ample space for oppression and manipulative mechanism on the continent.
For those who are not familiar with the politics of the AES, here is a quick glimpse. The AES block consists of Mali, Burkina Faso and the Republic of Niger, and the three countries are led by progressive revolutionary governments. Mali, Burkina Faso and the Republic of Niger have left ECOWAS in January, 2025 and created the AES and a regional Army, a Central Bank and a single currency to defend national sovereignty and move forward towards progress and sustainability. Since then, France and its allies have made so many attempts to destabilise the AES and implement regime change in the Sahel region.
The days are over when Africa will wait for orders from outside. We have come of age and it’s time Africa is left alone to shape its own future for the good of generations of Africans. We warn France to keep its hands off the Sahel region and stop spreading malicious information about the AES.
Long live the AES!
Signed:
Alimamy Bakarr Sankoh
Co-founder and President
The Sahel Solidarity Campaign Network
SaS-CaN
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