>>17913793
I mean in theory. Cut me some slack. They convert people. JNIM seems to make an effort reading out their speeches in the multiple languages that people speak in the Sahel and they draw people in from different groups.
The other things. Gaddafi being overthrown in Libya helped push the Tuaregs south along with a lot of weapons (a lot of these Tuaregs used to be pro-Gaddafi guys who had bases in Libya). The war in Libya also helped foster a real anti-French reaction in these countries because a lot of people saw Gaddafi as someone who put his money where his mouth is. What people don't understand about these coups that happened in the Sahel is that they were genuinely popular. They were popular putsches. The armies of these countries don't move until they smell the public mood and not a moment too soon. But they're also kind of retarded. One thing to keep in mind is that colonization didn't penetrate as deeply in the Sahel, which was traditionally ruled by military chiefs. The state-building civil service people owe to French influence but the military officers would just be like "that's all French shit" and get rid of them and will shove a boot up your ass if you don't like it.
The ideology of these coupsters is a kind of boneheaded Pan-Africanism that LARPs as anti-colonial nationalists from the past while blaming all of their problems on the West and especially the French, but they're more of a scapegoat. There are also guys who have gravitated towards these military chiefs who are into Kemetism which is like some trad we must retrvn to the ancient Egyptians ersatz religion. It's like this:
https://youtu.be/OXre9C4kOsM
