'Roofing' the Sahel: Russia is expanding its influence in Africa through violence, local elites’ lust for power, and Western miscalculations
Central Africa has become a battleground of competition between the West and Russia, in which the West is clearly losing. Russia has capitalised on the sharp rise in Islamic extremism and violence in the region's poorest countries to offer their leaders a 'survival package,' guaranteeing protection for the 'friendly' elite in exchange for providing a 'roof' of access to local resources.