Dina Mahmoud (London)
In an effort to confront the escalation of terrorist attacks and the activities of extremist groups in the Sahel region of West Africa, the governments of many countries there are resorting to providing their military arsenals and security services with drones, with the aim of strengthening their ability to curb violence, which has reached unprecedented levels, over the years. last few.
However, Western security experts and political analysts stress that resorting to such weapons alone to fight terrorism does not represent a satisfactory or sufficient solution to deal with the bloody organizations active in the “African coast”, warning that this is the prevailing trend in countries such as Togo, Niger and Burkina Faso, It may backfire.
These drones may bomb other targets by mistake, which has already happened in other conflicts in Afghanistan, for example, which threatens to arouse the resentment of the population and make them vulnerable to recruitment operations, in which terrorist organizations are involved, on a large scale. .
On the other hand, these drones may eventually fall into the hands of the terrorists themselves, which constitutes a qualitative addition to the weapons in their arsenal, or their use by the army and police forces may encourage extremist organizations to seek to obtain these aircraft, especially Some of its models have a lower price.
At the same time, security experts warn against relying on that weapon, without being linked to a broader strategy to combat terrorism, in light of the fact that the Western forces, which operated during the last period in the Sahel region, did not resolve the battle against terrorist organizations, although they It was already using drones in its operations.
According to experts, such a strategy requires striving to achieve real change in the countries of the region, by creating more jobs, consolidating the foundations of the rule of law, consolidating the foundations of good governance, and providing basic services to citizens, especially in terms of education and health, along with dealing with Strict security with militant groups.
In this context, Federico Donelli, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Italian University of Trieste, stressed that resorting to drones cannot be considered a factor that would change the rules of the game in terms of the war on terrorism in the “African Coast”, stressing that the use of drones has It is useful in certain operations, especially the monitoring of suspected elements.
#Western #warnings #March #defeat #terrorism #African #coast