The G5 anti-jihadist force operates in Africa’s Sahel area

By  Gary  Raynaldo   –  DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

West African nations Burkina Faso and Niger have withdrawn from the G5 Sahel anti-jihadi force effective November 9, the two countries announced in a joint press statement this weekend.  The G5 Sahel Joint Force was established in 2017 to respond to the expansion of armed and violent extremist groups and deteriorating security situation in the region. The Heads of States of the G5 Sahel countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger launched the initiative backed by France.  Anti-French sentiment has been expressed by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger amid a string of military coups over the years.  In 2020, a military coup occurred in Mali, then Burkina Faso in September 2022.  In July 2023, a coup d’état took place in Niger, during which the country’s presidential guard removed and detained President Mohamed Bazoum.  Mali left the G5-Sahel force in May of this year.    Just Chad and Mauritania remain in the G5.  In their joint statement, the military regimes of Burkina Faso and Niger said the G5 organization is failing to achieve its objectives and “cannot serve foreign interests to the detriment 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.”