Pan-Africanism in sight as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger sign defense agreement
By Daily Tab24. Updated; Sep 17, 2023.
A historic agreement signed between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger yesterday would see a joint military operation aimed to route the country of terrorists and other non-state actors within the Sahel-region. The agreement would also include economic cooperation that would see to the boost of the Sahel-region’s economy. This is the first of its kind in Sahel-region of Africa, raising the stake of continental responsibility.
The agreement is coming after the three countries carried out coups that deposed pro-French governments in their respective countries. The bloodless coups in the three countries have led to a recent coup in Gabon, triggering a wave of coups in Africa. Citizens of the three countries celebrated the coups, giving the juntas the needed base to triumph.
The agreement was made in a form of charter known as the Alliance of Sahel States, the charter empowers the three countries to come to the aid of one another in advent of attack, economic decline and any other form of issue needing a hand. The signatories will always have free access to each other and share intelligence gathering for the sole aim of improving the Sahel-Sahara countries.
For long, France has played the role the articles of the charter defined, but failed woefully to bring peace to the Sahel-countries. All the military operations embarked on by the French troops came to naught with the security situation of Sahel region deteriorating under the French troops’ occupation.
The three countries have asked France to withdraw all their soldiers from the Sahel-region. The countries have also cut all ties with France, accusing it of neo-colonialism and occupation for the sole aim of exploiting natural resources of the respective countries. The charter is aimed to handle their problems internally by themselves rather than involving European troops that have no natural affiliation with them, but political and economic interest that left them shortchanged.
“Any attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of one or more contracted parties will be considered an aggression against the other parties” the charter says.
The charter is believed to be as a result of the resolve of Burkina Faso and Mali to help Niger’s new military government that had come under threat of invasion after ECOWAS threatened to restore the deposed President Basoum by force. Niger’s new military government was threatened to return to constitutional rule by ECOWAS days after its successful coup, prompting Burkina Faso and Mali to intervene for Niger, declaring their readiness to jointly counter ECOWAS.
“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” Assimi Goita military leader of Mali said on his X social media platform
Mali’s Defence Minister Abdoulaye Diop added that “This alliance will be combination of military and economic efforts between the three countries” the charter is named after the region where Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger share common boundary – a region dominated by armed rebellion.
The fight against terrorism would top the chart of the alliance. The three countries have faced terrorism that nearly overran them.
