From Partnership to Hostility: The Erosion of France’s Influence in the Sahel States of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger

<title>Abstract</title> <p>The decline of French supremacy in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger constitutes a marked deviation from the post-colonial state it established. By employing the framework of Kwame Nkrumah's Neocolonialism Theory (1965) alongside the qualitative methodology through documentary research design utilizing data gathered from governments, policy documents, speeches, press releases, journal articles, and international organizations, this paper will examine concepts like colonial legacy, cooperation in the area of security, regime transition, and nationalism. Findings reveal that strategic cooperation through counter-terrorism cooperation, the use of the CFA Franc, and military presence by France has not been effective because of the refusal of neocolonialism systems by the Sahel countries as they seek to reclaim their natural resources, disband French security structures, and align with Russia, China, and Turkey.</p>