If you want to frame your outrage, Africa is a continent. This is mainly about Mali and its fight against Al Qaida/ISIS.

France sent troops in with UN support in 2013 after a plea for help from the Malinese government (1)

That government was overthrown by the "National Committee for the Salvation of the People" very recently (2) so it's hard to say what the future holds, and if they should remain there. Most of the west (including the US) is not too excited about the new leadership though.

1) https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/35863/the-french-army-...

2) https://www.voanews.com/africa/france-keeping-close-eye-mali...

Mali and the surrounding countries were a French colonial territory for about 80 years from the late-19th through mid-20th centuries.

France has maintained relationships with its former colonies in West Africa, and frequently performs counter-terrorism operations there.

Some local West Africans are OK with it, others are not. A 2016 attack on a beach resort in Côte d'Ivoire was claimed by the attackers (AQIM - Al'Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb), to be directly because of the foreign presence in West Africa, and the beach resort was targeted specifically because it is popular with foreigners (4 of the 19 killed were French).

France's history in West Africa is complicated but it's probably because of that history that they continue to operate there.

there's also the Francs CFA, meaning that these countries non-shadow economy is - in effect - still managed by France...

What do you mean by "managed" exactly?

I don't know what he means exactly but the main consequence is that the Franc CFA is pegged to the Euro. It has a big impact but I wouldn't call this "managing their economy".

I would say it has its advantages and issues but in any case, it's not being imposed on any country. Many have chosen not to use it.

The Economist has lots of coverage of the Sahel and the ongoing developments in Mali. It’s one of the few mainstream publications with significant coverage of that issue available in the US.

They’ve got a bunch of podcasts that largely cover the content of their articles, with the voices of reporters and occasionally primary source recordings mixed in, all available for free. Worth checking out for sure.

Now I’m wondering, does anyone else have good resources for coverage of the Sahel or other international interests outside the US’s 24-hour news cycle?

google scholar https://academic.oup.com/fpa/article-abstract/14/1/1/2625523... is one such example or https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2018.1... 'Why do pastoralists in Mali join jihadist groups? A political ecological explanation' on the right side dozens more articles about the political and economic state of Mali and surrounding areas

type those doi numbers into sci-hub to read them, also this is the 'real' economist: https://academic.oup.com/ej like their study on mandatory conscription and criminal behavior afterwards https://academic.oup.com/ej/article/129/622/2522/5490322?sea... when released from the military these groups find no upwards mobility, so use their skills for crime.

Literally in second paragraph.

Because people follow the news and know about the UN mandate that the French forces (and all the other Europeans there) are enforcing.

They aren’t part of the UN force MINUSMA based in Mali though, afaik. https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/mission/minusma

It's mentioned in the second paragraph of the article.