By Spy Uganda
Three junta-ruled countries in Africa’s Sahel region will join forces to create a 5,000-strong unit to fight the jihadist violence that has for years plagued the nations, officials said on Tuesday.
Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali will create a “unified force” within weeks, Niger’s defence minister said.
The three nations are former French colonies where the military deposed civilian administrations in putsches between 2020 and 2023.
Following the coups, the three countries distanced themselves from France and last year formed a confederation, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
“In this common space, our forces will be able to intervene together”, Niger Defence Minister Salifou Mody said in a televised interview, adding that the 5,000-strong force was “nearly ready”.
“This unified force will not only have its own personnel, but aerial, ground and intelligence means and a coordination system”, he said, adding that it should be operational within weeks.
Taken together, the three countries are sprawled over an area of some 2.8 million square kilometres (1.1 million square miles) — roughly four times the size of France — in Africa’s northwest.
They lie in the region known as the Sahel, which stretches between the dry Sahara desert in the north and the more humid savannas to the south.
Each has been wracked by attacks by jihadists allied with either Al-Qaeda or Islamic State for a decade, violence that governments have not been able to eradicate despite help from French forces.
“We are in the same place, we face the same type of threats, especially this threat of criminal groups. We have to join forces”, Mody said.
“This is new, original and will provide security for our territories and for our people”, he said.
The three countries already carry out joint anti-jihadist operations, especially in the region where their borders meet, where the attacks are the most frequent.
After their coups, the three nations expelled French forces that had been assisting in the battle against jihadists, opted out of the ECOWAS regional organization, deeming it unhelpful for their requirements, and have sought new alliances with countries like Russia, which is aiming to increase its presence in the region.
