The Alliance of Sahel States (AES) is seeking to join forces to combat terrorist activities within the region.
The alliance is planning to put together five thousand military personnel to tackle the menace which has been lurking within the region for quite some time now.
Niger’s Minister for Defense, General Salifou Mody who made the announcement on Tuesday 20 January, 2025, explained that the force will involve aerial, grounds and intelligence in their quest to tackle the issue, adding that the joint military operation is expected to commence in few weeks to come.
“The unified force which is practically ready has a strength of 5,000 men.….. In this shared space, our forces will now be able to intervene together,” said General Mody.
The AES is also preparing to finalize its exit from the ECOWAS, a West African bloc the three countries have accused of being influenced by external parties from the West and Europe.
Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are currently ran by military leaders following growing concerns about their elected leaders doing the bidding of foreigners rather than governing in the interest of their citizens.
Following the successive coups, there have been anti-western campaigns in the country, with each parting ways with France, who has been blamed for the lack of progress in these countries.
The coups have since been condemned by the ECOWAS and a number of security experts.
However, the ECOWAS itself has received some backlash, as commentators opined that the bloc has been unfair in their dealings with the said countries, especially Niger. Experts say the bloc’s consistent inability to learn from similar events in the past has contributed to their lack of robust initiatives to handle current troubling situations.
In an attempt to return constitutional rule to Niger, ECOWAS security heads gathered in Accra, Ghana to deliberate on joint military strategies. There were talks against the plan, with experts warning that such an intervention could escalate matters. Since then, there have not been any progress on the issue.
Since the coups broke-out, the three countries indicated their decision to no longer be member states of the ECOWAS, following which they decided to form their own alliance.
The announcement of a joint military operation to counter terrorist activities within the region comes ahead of the three countries’ preparations to finalize their exit from the ECOWAS. Their exit will become official on January 29, 2025, a year since their official notice to the West African bloc.
Meanwhile, following his inauguration as the new president of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama appointed a special envoy to the AES, Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, an approach being described as an effort to forge commitment to regional security and cooperations.
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