ALLIANCE OF SAHEL STATES

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Context

• Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have signed a mutual defence pact, known as the Alliance of Sahel States.

READ ABOUT SAHEL REGION: https://www.iasgyan.in/daily-current-affairs/sahel

Aim of the Defence Pact

• Through this pact, the three Sahel countries aim to help each other against possible threats of armed rebellion or external aggression.
• The aim is to establish a collective defence and mutual assistance framework.

Features of the Pact

• The charter, known as the Alliance of Sahel States, binds the signatories to assist one another – including militarily – in the event of an attack on any one of them.
• Any attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of one or more contracted parties will be considered an aggression against the other parties.

Need of the Alliance

• The Liptako-Gourma region – where the Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger borders meet – has been ravaged by armed rebellion in recent years.
• All three states were members of the France-supported G5 Sahel alliance joint force with Chad and Mauritania, launched in 2017 to tackle armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) groups.
• They have undergone coups since 2020, most recently Niger, where soldiers in July overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum, who cooperated with the West in the fight against Sahel-based armed groups.
• This alliance will be a combination of military and economic efforts between the three countries.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/16/mali-niger-and-burkina-faso-establish-sahel-security-alliance