A priori, le Sahel is a barren land. We can clearly see the thinness of its sometimes terribly sparse vegetation. Also, the pallor of the space, yellowed in many places, illustrates the almost disastrous fate that awaits it. Its proximity to the desert probably says a lot about this specific situation. Besides, the terminology ” Sahelo-Saharan region Is widely used when one evokes certain regions of the most austere African geographical strip.
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According to the above, it would even seem necessary to apprehend the aridity even more in depth. As it unfolds in this space, the concept calls for a much finer and more diverse intelligence. The most skeptical observers see in this the possible mortgage of a long-term life (bios). According to a certain catechism received, poverty is consubstantial there as it carries so many desolations such as anthropological, environmental, security, cultural decay, etc.
Part of the current Sahelian population no longer has faith in existence. At the mercy of the surrounding absurdity, she completely loses the necessary distance. However, people have lived there and continue to “dominate the land” there, shaping their happiness. There is a specific biotope within it that cannot be objectively avoided. We cannot deliver the Sahel to a fatalistic fate since it corresponds to a world that is certainly different but largely habitable. Obviously, as in some universes, you have to take the full measure of your realities and have the inherent keys that allow you to flourish there.
It takes a discourse of anti-fatality to break down the hasty conclusions. These are in no way empowered to embody viable and reliable solutions. It takes daring to outlaw them. Because, will it be necessary to question it vehemently, other deserted places in the world do not polarize centers of material, cultural, etc. progress. ? In some parts of the United States of America as in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Israel and many others – to name only these most prominent examples – the very high degree of heat and the The aridity of the land is not strictly speaking the decisive criteria leading to leaks or drastic reductions in demography. On the contrary, these places also function as centers of migratory attractions. Many inhabitants of forest countries populating the globe would like to settle there. We are well placed on the borders of a vast paradox.
Today, the African Sahelian space has become the epicenter of many Conflicts whose islamist terrorism The depth of the complaint bears witness to this. The decor is illustrative of a palpable gravity. The project of nihilation, the source or motives of which always question, feeds fundamental debates.
Why would the supposed austerity of nature alone not be enough to pursue its completion and make it a definitively hostile place for anyone? In truth, if the African Sahel is that nothing whose description (or perhaps destruction) is exacerbated, the problem will have to be reconsidered. The occupation of space or the theatricalization of conflicts within it does not seem to be without consequences. It is obvious to say this: we do not fight for nothing. Also, beyond the surrounding discourse, the place is not so neutral. He is chosen. It is a Dasein, a being, objectified. Because the ring, to borrow the ferocity of the image, is indeed the ideal place of noble art.
Such a finding counterbalances the very idea of Sahelian aridity that we are talking about. The frame is not that useless. He is not so miserable or poor. It is streaked by the blur of temporarily unexplained specters.
The context as a whole calls for reaction. At least two are possible: flight and rooting.
The first hypothesis is backed by the massive insecurity that shakes the endless specter of death. Its wide distribution in the Sahelian space and / or its trivialization further legitimizes abandonment or flight. Dying in the Sahel has become a ritual that we never tire of talking about. Without doubt, the daily life is punctuated by these massacres, the different symbols of which reflect the extreme vulnerability of both the peoples and the Sahelian States themselves. You have to save your life by leaving, if only for a while, from a strategic perspective. But could we come back to it?
The second hypothesis turns into questioning: But what are we looking for in the Sahel, such a miserable space if we stick to this received discourse? The many alibis whose officialization continues deserve much more particular attention from its natives and States. We need to know in detail for what reasons life is threatened there: risk of religious radicalization or project to install a caliphate, muffled neo-colonization, strategy of conquest and spoliation of subsoil wealth, etc. ?
Africa, in general, is the victim of its ideological porosity, its sustained technological backwardness, its weakened leadership, etc. giving free rein to all kinds of manipulations. Sometimes, we live there like “above ground”, ordered to take part in projects which do not concern us. These Africans who excel in fratricidal wars in the name of so-called religious radicalization tarnish the overall image of an entire continent. Worse, they self-zombify. There is, beyond a lapidary local education to instill, a much deeper awareness to introduce. The cost of such a project will be enormous, of course, but it will help to found a new, free society, quick to target its own interests as do other civilizations and peoples inside and outside their land. . Does the peaceful return of certain Boko Haram activists to their former living environment correspond to a program going in this direction? We must sincerely hope that Africa will stop seeing its history repeating itself without doing anything. Let us risk utopia.
Dr Zachée Betche
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