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exported Authored 3 sources
The Belt Without France: The Sahel Junta Alliance
Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger expelled France and formed the Alliance of Sahel States, inviting Russia's Africa Corps — but in May 2026 the largest rebel offensive since 2012 reached Bamako and killed Mali's Defense Minister, testing whether Russia can succeed where France failed.
Sources (3)
| Source | Score |
|---|---|
| Alliance of Sahel States Confirms Joint Airstrikes in Mali Africanews | 82% |
| Defining a New Approach to the Sahel's Military-led States International Crisis Group | 93% |
| The Waiting Game: Signposts of Russia's Coming Failure in Africa Small Wars Journal | 84% |
Full Script
Narration + Stagehand commands
Commands like [map.highlight] are
Stagehand directives — they control the map renderer and pass through schema validation
before any visual effect reaches the public output.
[map.view lat=15.0 lon=0.0 zoom=4] [entity.propose id="city:bamako" type="city" name="Bamako" lon=-7.99 lat=12.65] [entity.propose id="city:niamey" type="city" name="Niamey" lon=2.11 lat=13.51] [entity.propose id="city:ouagadougou" type="city" name="Ouagadougou" lon=-1.52 lat=12.37] [map.highlight entity="country:mali" color="#ef4444"] [map.highlight entity="country:burkina_faso" color="#ef4444"] [map.highlight entity="country:niger" color="#ef4444"] [map.label entity="city:bamako" text="Mali — France expelled 2021"] [map.label entity="city:ouagadougou" text="Burkina Faso — France expelled 2022"] [map.label entity="city:niamey" text="Niger — France expelled 2023"] [chat.say source="crisisgroup_sahel_junta_2026"] Four coups. Four juntas. All expelled France. All invited Russia's Africa Corps in its place. [scene.title kind=chapter eyebrow="Clio Short" title="The Belt Without France" subtitle="Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger — the Sahel junta bloc and what replaced the West"] [map.highlight entity="country:france" color="#94a3b8"] [map.highlight entity="country:russia" color="#f59e0b"] [map.label entity="country:russia" text="Africa Corps deployed"] [scene.title kind=clear] [chat.say source="africanews_aes_airstrikes_2026"] In May 2026, the Alliance of Sahel States confirmed joint airstrikes after the largest rebel offensive since 2012. The attack reached Bamako. Mali's Defense Minister was killed. Russia's Africa Corps was supposed to fix this. A decade of French operations failed. Now Russia is failing too — and the region is watching. [scene.title kind=outro title="The Belt Without France." subtitle="Follow Clio for more geopolitical intelligence."]