They are all in the Sahel region. The Sahara is expanding into them as the climate changes.

I’ll take a wild guess and say “russias Wagner mercenary troop is active there”

Edit: Im not joking, they immediately flew the russian flag after the coup was successful

the Wagner group is active across this region, typically hired by juntas that displace the western-allied governments and pay the Wagner group for security by granting Wagner control over some resource extraction