A Stressful Neighbor

The “black swan” of Ceuta surprised no one who had been watching the wider region, the article argues. Much of northern Africa is suffering from drought and conflicts involving armed factions, foreign mercenaries and regional and global powers. Young people across the Maghreb and Sahel dream of escaping north, toward Europe.

The article describes the Sahel as a broad transition zone between the Sahara and the savanna, stretching from the Atlantic to the Red Sea. It includes Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, parts of Niger, Chad, Sudan and Eritrea, as well as areas of Nigeria, Cameroon, Gambia, Guinea, South Sudan and Somalia. Geopolitical magazine Limes has called the wider zone “Chaosland,” a name chosen for its explicit meaning.

North African states function, although not democratically, and their economies are growing. Morocco, however, needs the foreign currency sent by its emigrants. The situation is portrayed as even more desperate in the Sahel, where failed states provide fertile ground for mafias, guerrillas and mercenaries serving foreign powers.

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Chaosland

Migration routes therefore serve two purposes at once: they offer an escape from chaos and create a major business for those who trade in migrants. Against that backdrop, the article says the United States has tired of trying to control the world alone and is increasingly prepared to delegate the task of maintaining order to “corsair states.”

Morocco is presented as one of those states. Its role in containing instability along the North African Atlantic brings rewards, including recognition of Moroccan control over Western Sahara, advanced weapons and technological development assistance. Morocco is also working on an anti-terrorism drone, which the article says could help it make a significant industrial leap. The article concludes that Morocco is seeking, on a smaller scale, a role resembling Turkey’s emerging imperial influence in the eastern Mediterranean.

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corsair states