Burkina Faso and Niger, two countries affected by jihadist violence from northern Mali in 2013, invited Bamako on Monday to "return to assume its responsibilities" , as part of sub-regional cooperation in the anti-jihadist fight.
In mid-May, the transitional authorities in Mali , prevented from assuming the presidency, decided to withdraw from the G5 Sahel and its joint force, a military alliance fighting against jihadist groups , citing a "loss of autonomy " and "an instrumentalization" within the regional organization formed with Mauritania , Chad , Burkina Faso and Niger .
“We reviewed the sub-regional situation and we thought that Mali is today the great absentee from cooperation in the field of defence” , declared the minister. of the Defense of Niger, Alkassoum Indattou . "We have to work so that Mali can come back and assume its responsibilities and play its role ," he added.
Alkassoum Indattou, accompanied by his counterpart, the Burkinabè Minister of Defense, General Barthélemy Simporé , spoke after a meeting with the president of the transition in Burkina Faso, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo .
"Beyond these operations, we plan to carry out more regular and permanent operations on the ground between the various armed forces to ensure that they occupy the ground, take control and cannot leave a one centimeter, both in Niger and Burkina Faso, to terrorists ," said Alkassoum Indattou.
From April 2 to 25, soldiers from the two armies carried out a joint operation called Taanli 3 - "alliance" or "cohesion" , in the Gulmacéma language spoken in eastern Burkina Faso, to neutralize "a hundred terrorists" , according to the two staffs.
Burkina Faso and its neighbor Niger have for several years faced regular and deadly jihadist attacks attributed to jihadist groups affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) organization and Al-Qaeda . They caused thousands of deaths in both countries and hundreds of thousands of displaced people fleeing their homes.
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