Recently, the military leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger signed a mutual defence pact, ministerial delegations from the three Sahel countries announced in Mali’s capital Bamako.
Key points
- The Liptako-Gourma Charter establishes the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
- Its aim is to “establish an architecture of collective defence and mutual assistance for the benefit of populations.
- The Liptako-Gourma region — where the Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger borders meet — has been ravaged by jihadism in recent years.
- This alliance will be a combination of military and economic efforts between the three countries.
- A jihadist insurgency that erupted in northern Mali in 2012 spread to Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015.
- All three countries have undergone coups since 2020, most recently Niger, where soldiers in July overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum.
- The charter signed binds the signatories to assist one another — including militarily — in the event of an attack on any one of them.
