Less than a month after its decision to leave the G5 Sahel, Mali has disengaged its forces from the joint multinational force attempting to tackle the jihadist threat in West Africa.
By announcing on May 15 its withdrawal from the G5 Sahel, Bamako was not bluffing.
On Tuesday 14 June, the transitional authorities in Bamako announced that they would end “the commitment of Malian personnel serving in the western and central zones as of 30 June.”
This step is part of “the implementation of the decision taken by Bamako on 15 May to withdraw from all G5 Sahel bodies, including the Joint Force of the G5 Sahel,” the Chief of Staff of the Malian Armed Forces said in a letter to the Commander of the G5 Sahel Joint Force.
This regional organisation, which includes Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad and Mauritania, was launched in 2014 to combat jihadist groups in the Sahel.
Created in 2015, the Joint Force has so far consisted of seven battalions, each with 650 men (550 military, 100 police and gendarmes) spread over three zones: West (Mali-Mauritania), Centre (Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger) and East (Niger-Chad).
The force is responsible for combating terrorism, drug and human trafficking, with the right of pursuit on both sides of the borders. A possibility that Bamako is now deprived of by withdrawing from the G5 Sahel and its joint force.
On Thursday 19 May, the current president of the G5 Sahel, General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno of Chad, invited the transitional authorities to reconsider their position.
Judging Mali’s decision to be unjustified, Mauritania promised to “do everything possible to ensure that the G5 Sahel overcomes all the obstacles that stand in its way.”
On Friday 20, Nouakchott had sent its Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Mauritanians Abroad, Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug to Bamako.
Niger did not deem it necessary to make any effort to save the furniture.
Niamey preferred to act on the death of the G5 Sahel, which has just taken effect with the withdrawal of the Malian military from five of the seven spindles and the command post in Bamako.
According to the document of the Malian Chief of Staff, the recalled soldiers will return to their armies “as of 1 July.”
Mali decided to withdraw from the G5 Sahel because of what its government described as “manoeuvres” aimed at preventing it from taking over the leadership of the regional organisation from February 2022, the date on which it should theoretically have inherited this office under the principle of the rotating presidency enshrined in the fundamental texts of this entity.
Scene of a first coup in August 2020 when a group of young officers dismissed President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita (IBK), Mali is today led by a transitional government dominated by the military, which was installed the day after the deposition, at the end of May 2021, of President Bah N’daw and his Prime Minister Moctar Ouane, who were then in charge of organising the return of the country to constitutional order.
Unlike the putsch against IBK, which was hardly disapproved of by Mali’s partners, the second coup was widely condemned and caused a clear deterioration in relations between Bamako and the international community.
After France, which first threatened and then decided to withdraw its troops engaged in the anti-jihadist fight in Mali, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) imposed several sanctions against Bamako, including an economic and financial embargo and the closure of air and land borders with the country.
Bamako, which suspects an “extra-regional” power, namely France, of being behind these sanctions, did not appreciate the “lack of solidarity” of the G5 Sahel countries.
The Malian authorities accused some of its neighbours of being in the pay of Paris, which it said has applied less heavy hand on Chad, where the military took power unconstitutionally after the death of Idriss Deby Itno on 20 April 2021.
AC/cgd/lb/abj/APA