Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso sign a mutual defense pact. ECOWAS in stalemate
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have signed a mutual defense pact, with which the three Sahel countries aim to help each other against possible threats of armed rebellion or external aggression.
The charter, known as the Alliance of Sahel States , signed on Saturday, commits the signatories to assist each other – including militarily – in the event of an attack against one of them.
“ Any attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of one or more contracting parties will be considered an aggression against the other parties ,” it reads. It also binds the three countries to work to prevent or quell armed rebellions.
“I signed today with the heads of state of Burkina Faso and Niger the Liptako-Gourma Charter establishing the Alliance of Sahel States, with the aim of establishing a framework of collective defense and mutual assistance,” said the Malian military leader Assimi Goita in his X social media account.
The Liptako-Gourma region – where the borders of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger meet – has been devastated by armed rebellion in recent years.
“This alliance will be a combination of military and economic efforts between the three countries,” Mali Defense Minister Abdoulaye Diop told reporters in Bamako, Mali's capital. “Our priority is the fight against terrorism in the three countries.”
An armed rebellion that erupted in northern Mali in 2012 spread to Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015.
In the meantime, this agreement also makes the intervention of ECOWAS much more complex, which, in theory, would have organized itself to intervene in Niger, but in practice is doing nothing. Meanwhile, the French ambassador in Niamey is reduced to eating military rations , besieged by the government that wants to expel him.
Armed rebellion in the Sahel region
All three states were members of the joint force of the French-backed G5 Sahel alliance with Chad and Mauritania, launched in 2017 to counter armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State (ISIS).
They have suffered coups since 2020, most recently in Niger, where soldiers in July overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum, who had collaborated with the West in the fight against Sahel-based armed groups.
The West African regional bloc ECOWAS threatened to intervene militarily in Niger during the coup, but the regional bloc has toned down its war rhetoric in recent weeks. Mali and Burkina Faso promptly responded by saying that any such operation would be considered a “declaration of war” against them.
The military coups were also due to external influences, but the fact that the guerrilla war was not resolved even with French intervention certainly had its weight. The militaries of the three countries had entered into a war that had lasted for years without definitive results. Eventually they took power.
Relations between France and the three states soured after the coups. France has been forced to withdraw its troops from Mali and Burkina Faso, and is in a tense standoff with the army that seized power in Niger. Mali also asked the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA to leave the country.
Niger's military rulers asked France to withdraw its troops and its ambassador, as France refused to recognize the new military authority.
Meanwhile, Mali has seen a resurgence of hostilities by predominantly Tuareg armed groups in the past week, threatening a 2015 peace deal. Niger has also seen a resurgence of conflicts with terrorist groups and has also suffered heavy losses
Thanks to our Telegram channel you can stay updated on the publication of new Economic Scenarios articles.
The article Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso sign a mutual defense pact. Stalled ECOWAS comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/mali-niger-e-burkina-faso-firmano-un-patto-di-mutua-difesa-ecowas-in-stallo/ on Sun, 17 Sep 2023 09:00:14 +0000.