The junta in Niger, which seized power in a military coup on July 26, has formed a military alliance with the neighboring countries of Burkina Faso and Mali, whose rulers also seized power in coups.
The three countries’ foreign ministers made a joint announcement in Niamey, Niger’s capital on Thursday.
Niger junta leader General Abdourahamane Tiani has authorised the armed forces of Mali and Burkina Faso to intervene on Nigerien territory in case of attack, the foreign ministries of the three countries said in a joint statement on Thursday.
The pact in question allows Mali and Burkina Faso to provide military assistance to Niger in the event of military intervention against the putschists there. A similar agreement already exists between Burkina Faso and Mali.
The agreement also calls for the three countries to take joint action against terrorist groups active in their countries and secure their borders.
Following the July 26 coup in Niger, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) activated a standby force and threatened violence if the democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum was not reinstated and constitutional order restored
For years, the countries in the Sahel region have been threatened by various terrorist militias, some of which have sworn allegiance to Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State. Under Bazoum, Niger was considered one of the last strategic partners of the West in the fight against the advance of Islamist terrorists in the Sahel.
Niger is the fourth nation in West Africa since 2020 to suffer a coup, following Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali. The juntas in Burkina Faso and Mali have said that any military intervention in their neighbor would be considered a “declaration of war” against their countries.
So when Americans do it it’s liberation, but when Africans do it it’s an axis of crippled corrupt dictators
Whataboutism.
The US have their fare share of helping coups and dictators. Doesn’t change the fact that this is an alliance of dictatorships, much like the one we saw in Europe a century ago, only with less money and power.
Obligatory disclaimer: I’m not the person you were talking to, and I don’t agree with their points.
What makes you say that? Apart from the 3 non-democratic leaders part I’m struggling to see any resemblance in their aims and objectives.
They are’t trying to colonize the rest of ECOWAS in a war of aggression, they’re most likely trying to take advantage of the Russia/West hostilities to wrest some control of local mineral resources for their own enrichment.
And unlike Europe in the 30s there are much bigger more powerful players in the shadows on both sides.
I see your point and agree the comparison is a bit over the top. I was just pointing the the fact that dictators tend to bend together to strengthen their power and opress their populations.
I get what you’re saying now.
Yeah, they are definitely banding together for strength. This pact, and the one before it, are an attempt to stop the countries that make up the Economic Community of West Africa from invading and restoring democracy.
ECOWAS has already indicated a stand-by force. Which, I guess, is democracies also banding together for strength. :-)
I don’t support coups overthrowing democratic leaders regardless of who backs them. See how easy that is?