MALI WITHDRAWS FROM WEST AFRICA’S MULTINATIONAL FORCES

Mon 16 May 2022:

Mali’s military junta announced its withdrawal from the G5 Sahel multi-national military group in West Africa on Sunday, claiming a lack of progress in rooting out an insurgency.

Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger formed the G5 Sahel in 2014, and its anti-insurgent force was launched in 2017 as part of a multinational force to confront an insurgency in the three-borders region.

The administration also ascribed its decision to the failure of the G5 Sahel to convene previously scheduled meetings in Mali, according to a statement.

In February 2021, the Assembly of Heads of State of the G5 Sahel member countries meeting in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, had agreed to hold their 8th ordinary session in Bamako, the capital of Mali, in February this year, but it did not take place on the grounds of Mali’s recent political situation.

In accordance with established practice, Mali would have assumed the presidency of the G5 Sahel currently held by Mahamat ldriss Deby Itno, Chad’s president.

“The Government of Mali firmly rejects the argument of barring Mali from assuming the presidency of the G5 Sahel due to the internal national political situation because it has no legal basis,” the statement said.

As a result, “Mali’s government has decided to withdraw from all G5 Sahel organs and bodies, including the Joint Force.”

The junta argues that refusing Mali’s presidency by some G5 Sahel states is “linked to the maneuvers of an extra-regional state desperately aimed at isolating Mali.”

Mali has witnessed two subsequent coups, in August 2020 and in May 2021.

The move compelled West Africa’s regional bloc the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to slap sanctions on the government of junta leader Col. Assimi Goita. The latest move could further isolate the country.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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