A mutual defense contract was signed on Saturday by the military heads of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, ministerial delegations from the three Sahel nations reported in Bamako, Mali.
Assimi Goita, the head of Mali’s junta, sent a message on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, stating that the Liptako-Gourma Charter creates the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
“Establish an architecture of collective defence and mutual assistance for the benefit of our populations,” he wrote, is the organization’s stated goal.
The Liptako-Gourma region, where the frontiers of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger converge, has recently been devastated by jihadism.
“This alliance will be a combination of military and economic efforts between the three countries”, Mali’s Defence Minister Abdoulaye Diop told journalists.
“Our priority is the fight against terrorism in the three countries.”
2015 saw the spread of a jihadist insurgency that began in northern Mali in 2012 to Niger and Burkina Faso.
Since 2020, coups have taken place in all three nations, most recently in Niger in July when soldiers deposed President Mohamed Bazoum.
In response to the coup, the West African regional group ECOWAS has vowed to act militarily in Niger.
Immediately in response, Mali and Burkina Faso declared that any such action would be regarded as a “declaration of war” against them.
- Mutual Defence Pact
The charter signed on Saturday binds the signatories to assist one another — including militarily — in the event of an attack on any one of them.
“Any attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of one or more contracting parties shall be considered as an aggression against the other parties and shall give rise to a duty of assistance… including the use of armed force to restore and ensure security”, it states.
The three nations are also bound to cooperate in order to put an end to or avert armed uprisings.
Along with fighting terrorists affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, Mali has experienced a recent resurgence of hostilities from Tuareg-dominated armed organizations.
The escalation runs the risk of putting the junta’s assertions that it has successfully improved a dismal security situation as well as an army that is already overworked to the test.
Before signing a peace accord with the government in 2015, the successionist organisations had started a rebellion in 2012. But that agreement is now usually regarded as dead.
The resurgence of military activity by those armed organizations has coincided with a string of violent assaults primarily attributable to the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), a jihadist coalition with ties to Al-Qaeda.
The Mali junta expelled the UN peacekeeping operation MINUSMA in 2023 and the French anti-jihadist force in 2022.
Additionally, French troops were expelled from Burkina Faso, and the coup leaders in Niger cancelled various agreements with France for military cooperation.
