Mali: The three Sahel states, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, have signed a mutual defence pact aimed at helping each other against possible threats of armed rebellion or external aggression. The charter, known as the Alliance of Sahel States, binds the signatories to assist one another, including militarily, if any one of them is attacked.
“Any attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of one or more contracted parties will be considered an aggression against the other parties,” the agreement remarked. The pact also binds the three countries to work to prevent or settle armed rebellions.
“I have today signed 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 collective defence and mutual assistance framework,” Mali military leader Mr. Assimi Goita posted on X. The Liptako-Gourma region, where the Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger borders meet, has been ravaged by armed rebellion in recent years.
“This alliance will be a combination of military and economic efforts between the three countries. Our priority is the fight against terrorism in the three countries”, Mali’s Defence Minister Mr. Abdoulaye Diop told reporters in Bamako, the capital of Mali.
All three states were members of the France-supported G5 Sahel alliance joint force with Chad and Mauritania, launched in 2017 to tackle armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) groups. They have undergone several coups since 2020, including the most recent one in Niger, where soldiers in July overthrew President Mr. Mohamed Bazoum, who cooperated with the West in the fight against Sahel-based armed groups.
Relations between France and the three states have soured since the coups. France has been forced to withdraw its troops from Mali and Burkina Faso and is in a tense standoff with the military that seized power in Niger. Mali has also asked the UN peacekeeping mission, MINUSMA, to leave the country.
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