Chad and Mauritania pave way to dissolve G5 anti-jihadist alliance

The two remaining members of West Africa's G5 Sahel group has said they are paving the way to dissolving the anti-jihadist alliance, after the other three founding countries recently left.

Chad and Mauritania "take note and respect the sovereign decision" of Burkina Faso and Niger to leave the alliance, following in the footsteps of Mali, the two countries said in a statement.

On Saturday, Burkina Faso and Niger said they were withdrawing from the alliance.

Mali's junta had said it was quitting in 2022.

"The organisation is failing to achieve its objectives," Burkina Faso and Niger said.

"Worse, the legitimate ambitions of our countries, of making the G5 Sahel a zone of security and development, are hindered by institutional red tape from a previous era," they added.

"The G5 Sahel cannot serve foreign interests to the detriments of our people, and even less the dictates of any power in the name of a partnership that treats them like children, denying the sovereignty of our peoples," Burkina and Niger explained in the statement.

Mali also accused the G5 Sahel of being a tool of an "outside" state.

Meagre results

The G5 Sahel included Mauritania, Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, and was created in 2014, with an anti-jihadist force added in 2017, backed by France.

In announcing their withdrawal on Saturday, the military leaders of Burkina and Niger did not explicitly call for its dissolution, but experts had been predicting it would not last long.

The joint military force has achieved only meagre results on the ground, as few joint G5 operations have actually been carried out and the security situation has continued to deteriorate.

Violence has spread and thousands of civilians and fighters have been killed and millions of people displaced from their homes.

It has also contributed to political instability in the region, which has seen a succession of military coups -- in Mali in 2020, Burkina in 2022 and earlier this year in Niger.

A matter of sovereignty

Mali, Burkina and Niger have increasingly turned their backs on former colonial power, France, and its European partners.

Their military rulers have all accused Paris of having an outsize role after years of French deployments on their territories.

Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are all battling long-running jihadist insurgencies, and, this year, they have come together to support the creation of an Alliance of Sahel States, establishing closer economic ties and mutual defence assistance.

The foreign ministers of the three nations last week recommended creating a confederation as part of a long-term goal of uniting the West African neighbours within a federation.

(with AFP)