Former French colonies Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso create military alliance

leaders of the former French colonies Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger on Saturday inked a charter to form a military alliance of Sahel states in defiance to the Western nations after overthrowing the ruling governments and forging closer cooperation amongst the Junta rulers. Mali's interim president for the transitional period, Assimi Goita, said on X, formerly Twitter, that he had "signed [a charter] with the leaders of Burkina Faso and Niger the Liptako Gourma Charter, establishing the Alliance of Sahel States to create an architecture of collective defence and mutual assistance for the benefit of our people." 

African states, noted Goita, have decided to militarily assist each other, individually or collectively to depose external aggression or internal threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of their nations. The document signed by the three nations read that an "attack on the sovereignty or territorial integrity of one or more parties to the charter will be regarded as aggression against the other parties and will require their assistance, including the use of military force." The charter also stated that the signatories would effectively fight terrorism and any organised terror activity in the Sahel states. 

J’ai signé ce jour avec les Chefs d’Etat du Burkina Faso et du Niger la Charte du Liptako-Gourma instituant l’Alliance des États du Sahel (AES) ayant pour objectif d’établir une architecture de défense collective et d’assistance mutuelle au bénéfice de nos populations. pic.twitter.com/IjT43NHrKs

— Colonel Assimi GOITA (@GoitaAssimi) September 16, 2023

Alliance 'a combination of military and economic efforts': Defence Minister of Mali

Defence Minister of Mali, Abdoulaye Diop, meanwhile noted that the new “alliance will be a combination of military and economic efforts between the three countries." He stressed that the three African countries are committed to fighting against terrorism in the Liptako-Gourma region as well as all of Africa. Previously, Mali and Burkina Faso had warned that any attack on Niger would be a “declaration of war” echoing the stance of the Western military bloc NATO. The threats came after the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) threatened troop deployment to restore the deposed government of President Mohamed Bazoum in Niger.