Mauritania’s president on Monday urged Mali to rejoin a West African anti-jihadist force and regional grouping known as the G5 Sahel, which it quit last year Mali announced its decision in May 2022, slamming a “loss of autonomy” and “instrumentalisation” within the regional grouping. In 2021, Chad was meant to hand the G5 presidency over to Mali but did not — a move that Bamako interpreted as French interference.
“I hope this withdrawal will be very brief,” President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani said in a speech in the capital Nouakchott. He said the junta’s decision, France’s withdrawal of its last troops from Mali deployed under its Barkhane anti-jihadist force and the conflict in Sudan were “regrettable events”.
These have “interfered with the normal functioning of our organisation and accelerate more the vulnerability of our area, which is already very fragile”, he told the Sahel Alliance, a platform that aims to attract international development aid for the region.
Mali has been battling a security crisis since jihadist and separatist insurgencies broke out in the north in 2012. Anger at the government’s failure to stem the violence helped spark two coups in 2020 and 2021. The ruling junta has broken ties with traditional ally France and turned towards Russia.
The G5 Sahel, which includes Mauritania, Chad, Burkina and Niger, launched in 2014, with an anti-jihadist force added in 2017. The original five-nation mission was showcased as an unprecedented example of cooperation in one of the world’s troubled regions but has achieved meagre results and the Sahel’s security crisis continues to deepen.
