While Mali has decided to end its participation in the G5 Sahel joint force, Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum has indicated that the G5 Sahel fighting Islamist insurgents in West Africa is “dead”.
In an interview with the French newspaper La Croix, Nigerien leader Mohamed Bazoum said that “the G5 Sahel is dead. The isolation of Bamako in West Africa is bad for the whole sub-region”. Quoted by Archyde.com, a spokesman for the presidency of Niger confirmed the words of the head of state by declaring that “his position on the G5 Sahel is clear”.
The multinational G5 Sahel force was created in 2017, at the initiative of France, to counter the jihadists who swept through the Sahel region, killed thousands and forced millions to flee their homes. About five years later, it has never really been active and its few actions have often come up against quarrels between certain member states.
Mali has therefore decided to leave the group of five which included Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania, all Sahel countries affected by the jihadist insurgency for several years. Mali’s decision follows a breakdown in relations with its regional allies and with the former French colonial leader, stimulated by French neocolonial behavior which, together with its African “friends”, tries to control the country and dictate its laws there. .
The force has been hampered by a lack of funding and struggled to reduce violence. Mali’s ruling junta announced on Sunday it was stepping down, blaming the lack of progress in the fight against Islamists.
About 2,400 French soldiers and 900 special forces members of a European task force led by France are expected to leave Mali in the coming months. Niger has agreed to take in some of them, giving it a bigger role in the region’s fight against the Islamists. Niger’s tri-border region with Mali and Burkina Faso has been the epicenter of the insurgency by groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, which began in Mali a decade ago and has is propagated.