Experts suggest that the exit of U.S. and European troops from African nations in the Sahel region, now replaced by Russian mercenaries, has resulted in a surge of terrorism fueled by jihadist groups.

The Sahel, a band of countries stretching from west to east just below the Sahara Desert, has become a hotbed for terrorism. According to the Global Terrorism Index, the region accounted for 3,885 deaths, representing about 51% of all terrorism-related fatalities worldwide in 2024.

In the Sahel, military coups have led to juntas taking control in countries like Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. These new regimes, notably in Niger and Mali, have ousted Western military forces. In Niger, the U.S. was asked to cease anti-terror drone operations from two bases last year after an 11-year presence. Similarly, French troops were expelled from Mali in 2022 after nearly a decade of fighting Islamist terror groups.

In response, these governments have sought assistance from Russia’s private mercenary unit, the Africa Corps, previously known as the Wagner Group. However, reports suggest that the mercenaries are more focused on exploiting mineral resources than in combating jihadism.

Supporters of Niger’s National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) were seen with Russian and Chinese flags at a gathering in Niamey on August 20, 2023. (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Civilians in the Sahel frequently suffer the most from jihadist violence. Last month, 22 people were killed by Islamist militants on motorbikes in the Tillaberi village of western Niger. Among the victims were families attending a child’s naming ceremony. In northern Mali, Russian mercenaries, allegedly collaborating with government troops, were accused of killing 10 civilians in January, including a 2-year-old boy.

In the Sahel, “groups affiliated with the Islamic State and al-Qaeda are continuing their territorial and strategic advance,” the Observer Research Foundation reported in August, “taking advantage of governance gaps and weak security forces to push into littoral West African states such as Benin and Togo.”

“The situation in the Sahel, particularly in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, has rapidly deteriorated since the U.S. and French have withdrawn from the countries following the coups,” Bill Roggio, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies,(FDD) told Fox News Digital.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi shake hands during a family photo opportunity during the Russia Africa Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, July 28, 2023.  (Alexei Danichev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Roggio, also editor of the FDD’s Long War Journal, added, “The reality is that the situation was bad before the U.S. and French left the region, but the drawdown of U.S. and French forces has exacerbated the jihadist advances.”

“Both al Qaeda’s branch in the region, JNIM, (al Qaeda-linked Jama’a Nusrat Al-Islam wa al-Muslimin) and the Islamic State have made gains and control significant enclaves in the countries … The juntas in these three countries wanted the West out, and have turned to Russia to provide security via Wagner, which is now ironically called the Africa Corps.”

A Boko Haram flag flutters from an abandoned command post in Gamboru deserted after Chadian troops chased jihadists from the border town on February 4, 2015.  (Stephane Yas/AFP via Getty Images)

“The Russian forces have little incentive to improve security and focus on securing mineral resources for profit,” Roggio added. “This further fuels the jihadist insurgencies, which prey on civilians caught between the jihadists and weak-to-nonexistent governments in some cases. There is little the U.S. can do at the moment, as these governments are anti-West and do not want a return of U.S. and French forces. And I am not sure either country has the political will or desire to return.”

Dr. Frans Cronje, a political and economic analyst, said in an interview with Fox News Digital that during the run-up to the 2023 coup in Niger, a sophisticated political and media campaign sought to turn public opinion against Western influence, often using anti-colonial themes popular in Western political culture.

Russia’s Wagner group mercenaries in Mali, Africa.  (East2West)

Cronje continued, “French and U.S. stabilization efforts were tarred as imperialist interference and worse. That was on top of the fact that French and U.S. troops were already under severe strain in combating a jihadist insurgency that threatened the civilian population. You could make the case that even without the coup, the Western position was untenable, short of committing ever greater volumes of arms and munitions to a war very far away from Paris and Washington.”

Cronje agreed with Roggio in his assessment of the Kremlin’s position: “Russia’s forces have now filled the gap left by the French and Americans, but Russia’s objective is securing resource supply chains — not civilians.”

Wagner mercenaries in Mali, December 2023. (East2West)

He concluded, “It is difficult to say if this situation could have been avoided. The only way to do it would have been to run political and media operations to build popular support for Western actors, then install a pro-Western administration and, beyond that, vastly increase Western military resources, including troops, deployed in Niger. All a bridge too far for Western actors — and, in many respects, understandably so.”

A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “The United States has engaged with Sahelian countries using a pragmatic approach that focuses on advancing our foreign policy priorities. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Will Stevens’ recent visits to the region reinforced the U.S. government’s work with host country officials to advance U.S. commercial opportunities and to engage on strategic counterterrorism priorities to mitigate threats to U.S. personnel and interests.”