2023-09-17 07:51:59
The military regimes of Maliof Burkina Faso a you Niger signed a charter on Saturday September 16 establishing a defensive alliance, the ministerial delegations of the three countries announced in Bamako, capital of Mali.
This “Charter of Liptako-Gourma” creates “the Alliance of States of Sahel” (AES), wrote on .
The charter provides (art. 6) that “any attack on the sovereignty and integrity of the territory of one or more contracting parties will be considered as an aggression once morest the other parties and will engage a duty of assistance and relief of 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 maintained a constant position: the military authorities must “restore constitutional order immediately” by releasing the deposed president. Mohamed Bazoum and reinstalling it in its functions.
The West African organization has several times brandished the threat of armed intervention and imposed heavy economic sanctions on Niger.
However, neighboring Burkina and Mali believe that a military operation once morest their country would be an “illegal and senseless aggression” and have promised an “immediate response” to any aggression.
“Our priority is the fight once morest terrorism”
“This alliance will be a combination of military and economic efforts between the three countries,” Malian Defense Minister Abdoulaye Diop told journalists.
“Our priority is the fight once morest 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 military came to power through coups in 2020 and 2022, had quickly displayed their solidarity with the generals of Niamey following the coup d’état of July 26. The latter remain inflexible and have held deposed president Mohamed Bazoum prisoner since July 26, whom they intend to prosecute for “high treason”.
In Niger, around ten jihadist attacks have left more than a hundred dead, half of them civilians, since July 26.
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