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Head of Mali’s coalition, Burkina Faso And niger A joint battalion is to be launched into the deadly insurgency-plagued region “following large-scale operations in the coming days,” it was announced on Tuesday.
Burkina Faso leader Captain Ibrahim Traoré gave no details in his comments after being named as the new head of the coalition. sahel The states, whose three military-led members withdrew from the West African regional bloc this year. Alliance formed in 2023.
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are worst affected as the vast Sahel region south of the Sahara has become the deadliest place in the world for extremism, home to armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State. Islamic State Group. All three countries have seen coups and clashed with overstretched security forces in recent years.
The countries’ leaders agreed at a summit on Tuesday to boost security and economic ties, days after the weekend launch of a joint military battalion to fight armed groups. It is expected to have 5,000 personnel.
Niger’s junta leader, Abdourahmane Tchiani, said the coalition had “eliminated all occupation forces in our countries”, pointing to member states’ decisions to exclude longtime partners France and the United States.
“No longer will any country or interest group make decisions for our countries,” Tchiani said.
However, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have turned to Russia as a key security ally.
Rida Liamouri, a Sahel expert at the policy center of the New South think tank in Morocco, said the Sahel’s complex security crisis is “very difficult to defeat”, no matter who is involved in the coalition.
Ulf Lessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, said the second annual summit reflected growing cooperation between the three countries despite severed ties with global partners and coup-related sanctions.
Lessing said the alliance is “popular among citizens of all three countries” and is trying to maintain momentum by deepening cooperation beyond cross-border military operations.