(Di Marinella Pacifico, member of the Senate Foreign Commission ") Focus exclusively on the military crisis in Ukraine it is an exercise which, if not read with the right lens, risks the persistence of deadlock in the heart of Europe. In the rest of the globe, equally important games are being played, such as to determine the geopolitical assets for the spheres of influence, now ascertained in almost all of the African continent.
The delays and the delegations given by the EU to non-continental allies in dealing with the crises at home, sends us back to the president Macron which, together with the Merkel, encouraged the EU to play a leading role in relations with Moscow. While the EU is committed to sealing the borders to the east with military lines, for fear of invasions or provocations by Moscow, the most important ally of the Russia, China, establishes economic relations with the Poland to build the largest hub Chinese trade in Europe.
In exactly the same way, in the heart of Africa, in Sahel, the Sino-Russian alliance is reproducing the same pattern. On the one hand, Russia, with the dispatch of its military advisers and with the presence of the Wagners, is offering protection to Mali, almost totally ousting the France from the dynamics and relationships with Bamako. At the same time, China, with its economic strength, entered that market by purchasing debt.
It is useless to recall the countless errors or underestimations of the EU regarding the political assets of those countries which, let us remember, are buffer countries between Central Africa and the shores of the Mediterranean.. The succession of coups d'etat in almost all Sahel countries is destabilizing the entire region.
THEUNCHR he estimates the refugees squeezing to the north at four million. Controlling the entire band is equivalent to managing the immigration of millions of refugees ready to be used also to destabilize the weak democracies of the neighboring countries to the north.
In the light of the synallagm between Russia and some Sahelian countries, an intervention by the international community would be desirable in order to favor a truly democratic path for those countries, avoiding low-intensity wars dotted with decades of coups d'etat, too often accepted, if not favored by the West.
In this context, I very much appreciated the words of the president Macron, who at the meeting with Putin reiterated that the only way forward is that of dialogue with Moscow and hopes for the necessary de-escalation for the EU and for Russia. This is how the European leadership is taking shape. Macron, President of the EU with this approach, traces the way for re-election and recognition as the only European leader capable of exercising a foreign policy consistent with the spirit of our continent. Italian foreign policy, on the other hand, is not very effective. And it is also about this that we need to think.
Italy in the Sahel
Our country is present in that territory with the "Bilateral support mission in the Republic of Niger - MISIN", Commanded by the pilot colonel of theair Force, Davide Cipelletti, (with the geographical area of intervention also extended to Mauritania, Nigeria and Benin) in order to increase the capacities aimed at combating the phenomenon of illegal trafficking and threats to security, as part of a joint European and US effort for the stabilization of area and the strengthening of territorial control capacities by the Nigerian authorities and the G5 Sahel countries.
About 200 militar Italians operate, on the other hand, within the TF Takuba, guaranteeing medical evacuation capabilities of coalition personnel in operation through the use of the 3 CH 47 F transport aircraft of theArmy, in medevac configuration that make use of the necessary safety framework ensured by the 3 exploration and escort helicopters AH - 129D "Mangusta", of the 5th and 7th regiments of the Army Aircraft Brigade, framed in the Task Force “Jacana".