(3 minutes read)
The military leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger recently signed a mutual defense pact in Mali’s capital Bamako, where the three ministerial delegations met.
In an X (Twitter) message, the mutual defense pact, known as the Liptako-Gourma Charter, Mali’s junta leader Assimi Goita announced the establishment of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) with the objective of establishing an architecture of collective defense and mutual assistance for the benefit of our populations. All three countries have been ravaged by jihadism in recent years.
The three leaders resolved that through the alliance, the first task was to address the terrorism in the region. A jihadist insurgency that erupted in northern Mali in 2012 spread to Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015. All three countries have undergone coups since 2020, most recently Niger, where soldiers in July overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum.
The charter binds the signatories to assist one another — including militarily — in the event of an attack on any one of them. It also binds the three countries to work to prevent or settle armed rebellions. Mali has, in addition to fighting jihadists linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State group, seen a resumption of hostilities by predominantly Tuareg armed groups over the past week.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/sahel-region-needs-more-humanitarian-help-un/
https://trendsnafrica.com/sahel-region-needs-more-humanitarian-help-un/
Mali’s junta pushed out France’s anti-jihadist force in 2022 and the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA in 2023. French troops have also been pushed out of Burkina Faso, while Niger’s coup leaders have renounced several military cooperation agreements with France.
