The military leaders of Burkina Faso and Niger said Saturday they would quit the G5 anti-jihadist force in Africa’s Sahel area, the latest blow to the fight against insurgents in one of the world’s most troubled regions. The G5, created in 2014, has secured only meagre results, with Mali also quitting the original five-nation force last year, also in the wake of a military coup.
Leaders of the five countries agreed to deploy a joint anti-terror task force backed by France in 2017, but the military rulers of Burkina, Niger and Mali have all accused Paris of having an outsize role after years of French deployments on their territories.
Burkina and Niger “have decided in full sovereignty to quit all instances of the G5 Sahel, including the joint force” as of November 29, the two countries said in a statement. “The organisation is failing to achieve its objectives. Worse, the legitimate ambitions of our countries, of making the G5 Sahel a zone of security and development, are hindered by institutional red tape from a previous era, which convinces us that our process of independence and dignity is not compatible with G5 participation in its current form,” they said.
In a veiled reference to France, they added that “the G5 Sahel cannot serve foreign interests to the detriments of our people, and even less the dictates of any power in the name of a partnership that treats them like children, denying the sovereignty of our peoples.”
