The presidents of Chad, General Mahamat Idriss Déby and Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, held a joint press conference on Wednesday 13 July in N’Djamena, the Chadian capital. The two heads of state took the opportunity to call on Mali to rejoin the joint G5 Sahel force. Mali announced on 15 May that it was leaving the G5 Sahel, the force whose armies fight the armed groups that cover the Sahel in blood.
Bamako’s absence is felt in the G5 Sahel joint force. Assimi Goita’s country withdrew from the organisation in mid-May on the grounds of “instrumentalisation of the institution”. Thus, on Wednesday 13 July, his neighbours in Niger and Chad gave him a heartfelt cry. “We regret this withdrawal and hope that Mali will reconsider its decision because the fight against terrorism is a fight that a country cannot do alone, it is together,” said Mahamat Idriss Déby, the president of the transition in Chad.
Furthermore, the son of Idriss Déby Itno recognises that the withdrawal from Mali will certainly have repercussions on the mission of the joint G5 Sahel force and adds: “We are going to get closer to our Malian brothers so that they return to the G5 Sahel. As for Mohamed Bazoum, the Nigerien leader announced a “meeting, the date of which is not specified, followed by a call for Mali to return to the G5 Sahel to overcome differences”.
As a reminder, Bamako slammed the door of the G5 Sahel on 15 May following the non-holding of the 8th ordinary session of the institution which should have been held in February and which was supposed to consecrate “the beginning of the Malian presidency” at the head of the G5 Sahel. The country had denounced “the instrumentalisation of an institution such as the G5 Sahel, whose mandate is to pool resources to guarantee conditions of development and security in the space of member countries, is fundamentally contrary to the interests of our countries and peoples, who are facing major challenges in the fight against terrorism.
For Bamako, the opposition of some G5 Sahel states to Mali’s presidency is linked to the manoeuvres of an extra-regional state desperately seeking to isolate Mali. On 30 June, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Mali, Major General Oumar Diarra, announced the end of the involvement of Malian personnel in all G5 Sahel bodies and authorities as of that date.
Regretting the departure from Mali, the Chadian general said: “Let us stay optimistic and hope that it will change its decision. The G5 Sahel is composed of five states: Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina and Mauritania. It is a coalition that converges their efforts in the fight against terrorism.
