The military regimes of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger signed a charter on Saturday establishing a defense alliance, ministerial delegations from the three countries said in Bamako, Mali’s capital.
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This “Liptako-Gourma Charter” creates the “Alliance of the Sahel States” (AES), wrote the head of the Mali Junta, Assimi Goita, on X (formerly Twitter). Their goal is to “create an architecture of collective defense and mutual aid,” he emphasized.
The Charter provides (Article 6) that “any attack on the sovereignty and integrity of the territory of one or more Contracting Parties shall be considered an attack against the other Parties and shall entail an obligation to assist and relieve all Parties individually or collectively.” , including the use of armed force to restore and ensure security within the area covered by the Alliance.
Since the July 26 coup in Niger, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has taken a consistent position: the military authorities must “immediately restore constitutional order” by deposing President Mohamed. Release Bazoum and reinstate him in his functions.
The West African organization has repeatedly threatened armed intervention and imposed severe economic sanctions against Niger.
However, neighboring countries Burkina and Mali consider military action against their country to be “illegal and senseless aggression” and have promised an “immediate response” to any aggression.
“This alliance will be a combination of military and economic efforts by the three countries,” Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop told reporters.
“Our priority is the fight against terrorism in the three countries,” he added.
The Liptako-Gourma region – bordering Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – has been ravaged by jihadism in recent years.
Neighboring Mali and Burkina, led by soldiers who came to power in coups in 2020 and 2022, were quick to show solidarity with the generals in Niamey after the July 26 coup.
The latter remain inflexible and have been holding deposed President Mohamed Bazoum captive since July 26th, whom they want to prosecute for “high treason”.
In Niger, around ten jihadist attacks have claimed more than a hundred lives since July 26, half of them civilians.
The “Sahel Alliance” brings together several countries and international institutions such as France, Germany and the United States that have suspended their aid programs in Niger.