The military regimes in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger Republic Niger, have agreed to set up a joint force to fight insurgents’ threats across their territories.
Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have recently blamed the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)’s “deviation from its founding ideals” for their exit.
The announcement sent shockwaves through the 15-member ECOWAS, with concerns about the potential for heightened political and economic instability in the already fragile Sahel region
The Niger’s armed forces chief, Moussa Salaou in a televised statement on Wednesday after a meeting with his counterparts, said the joint force would be “operational as soon as possible to meet the security challenges”.
According to Reuters, Salaou did not give further details on the size or remit of the force.
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The decision is the latest sign of closer alignment to emerge since the three neighbours in West Africa’s insurgency-torn central Sahel region severed military ties with longstanding allies including France and formed a cooperation pact known as the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
Violence in the region fuelled by the decade-long fight with Islamist groups linked to Al Qaeda and Islamic State has worsened since the three countries’ militaries seized power in a series of coups from 2020 to 2023.
It hit a high in 2023, with conflict fatalities in the central Sahel rising by 38% compared with the previous year, according to U.S.-based crisis-monitoring group ACLED, citing reports of over 8,000 people killed in Burkina Faso alone last year.
Reuters
