Analysis - Europe seems to have ever fewer options as it watches West Africa experience widespread military coups. Ministers meeting in Toledo, Spain had no quick answers to tough questions about the EU's role in the region.
The bloc is reckoning with a significant spike in anti-French sentiment in formerly colonized countries. At the same time,is expanding its presence, now on the ground in Mali, Burkina Faso and the Central African Republic, to name a few.
"The Russians are not behind the putsch in Niger, but they will use the situation, the instability, for a new colonization," said Tajani."China will do the same, but the Russians at this moment are very dangerous because of Wagner," he added, referring to the Russian mercenary group. So what can the EU do? No one in Toledo offered immediate answers. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock spoke of the importance of democracies standing by other democracies when threatened.
Her Irish counterpart, Micheal Martin, said there was"a lot of room for reflection" on what was happening in the Sahel, calling for a continued, sustained"investment in people in Africa, from the humanitarian dimension, the development dimension, in addition to the security dimension."A question that must be answered in the shorter term is whether France should stay on the ground in Niger.
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