Mauritania and Chad have paved the way for the dissolution of the G5 Sahel alliance, created in 2014 to confront terrorism and other challenges in the sub-region, following the withdrawal of the three other members, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.
Mauritania and Chad "take note of and respect the sovereign decision" of Burkina Faso and Niger to withdraw after the earlier announcement by Mali, the two countries assert.
They will "(implement) all necessary measures in accordance with the provisions of the Convention establishing the G5 Sahel, notably in its Article 20," they emphasize in a statement released Wednesday morning by the Mauritanian News Agency.
Article 20 of the Convention stipulates that "the G5 Sahel may be dissolved at the request of at least three member states."
In the statement announcing the withdrawal of their countries on Saturday, the military regimes now in power in Burkina Faso and Niger do not explicitly request the dissolution of the G5 Sahel.
But the fate of this already weakened alliance, even before Mali's withdrawal in 2022, seemed sealed. The member countries had established a joint military force in 2017, which has remained highly limited in its effectiveness. Violence has continued to spread, resulting in thousands of civilian and combatant deaths and millions of displaced persons. It has significantly contributed to political instability and a series of coups.
"Infantilizing Partnership"
Since the creation of the G5 Sahel, the sub-region has seen military takeovers in Mali in 2020, Burkina in 2022, and Niger in 2023.
Emphasizing a sovereigntist discourse, they distanced themselves from France, a supporter of the G5 Sahel, and its European partners.
They created their own alliance in 2023, and their foreign ministers have recently proposed the creation of a confederation.
Burkina and Niger announced on Saturday that they had decided "in full sovereignty" to withdraw "from all instances and organs of the G5 Sahel, including the Joint Force." A decision that took effect on November 29, as stated in their joint statement.
According to Ouagadougou and Niamey, the organization struggles to achieve its objectives and is plagued by "institutional burdens and age-old inertia."
They expressed refusal to "serve foreign interests at the expense of the peoples of the Sahel, let alone accept the diktat of any power in the name of a distorted and infantilizing partnership that denies the right to the sovereignty of our peoples and states."
Mali had left the G5 Sahel in 2022, citing an organization "instrumentalized from the outside." France is generally targeted by such accusations.
