Foreign military missions in Africa

By January 2024, the Kenyan authorities will send approximately 1,000 police officers to Haiti to fight the gangs taking control of the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince. According to estimates, gangs have taken over as much as 80% of the city. Kenya is not the first country to intervene and lead a foreign mission in Haiti. In 2004–2017, Brazil led MINUSTAH, the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti.

Congo’s government has announced that regional forces sent by the East African Community (EAC) will have to leave the country by December 2023 due to a “lack of satisfactory results”. First, the M23 group still refuses to withdraw from the occupied territories in North Kivu province, and it has not been resolved. Our podcast describes the situation in the Congo and the long-term fight against gangs there.

The French army began withdrawing from Niger after the coup d’état in July this year when soldiers overthrew the country’s democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum. Since taking power, Nigerien military leaders have been exploiting the anti-French sentiment among the population. Approximately 1,500 French soldiers operated in Niger, training the local army and conducting joint operations. French troops have already withdrawn from neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, where local governments expelled them. According to experts, France’s withdrawal will make it easier for jihadists linked to IS and Al-Qaeda to expand in the Sahel region.