The leaders of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali signed an agreement to organise the Sahel states to “create a collective defence architecture”. This was written by Malian transitional president Assimi Goita on the social network “X” (Twitter).
Assimi Goita said that he and the heads of Burkina Faso and Niger signed the Liptako-Gourma Charter, which creates the Alliance of Sahel States. The prescribed objective of the military bloc is to create collective security conditions in the region.
“I signed today with the heads of state of Burkina Faso and Niger the Liptako-Gourma charter that establishes the Alliance of Sahel States to create an architecture of collective defence and mutual assistance for the benefit of our populations,” Goita wrote.
The military in Mali on 24 May 2021 carried out the arrest of interim President Ba Ndau and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane, who were later redeployed to the Kati army base near the capital Bamako. Vice President Assimi Goita announced a little later that he had relieved the president and prime minister of their duties for their violation of the transitional charter. A military council headed by Goita took over the country’s leadership and announced a desire to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in 2022. However, the authorities then decided to postpone the elections for security reasons.
In late September 2022, media reported that a group of military officers led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré in Burkina Faso announced that Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, the head of the country’s transitional government, had been dismissed, the government dissolved, and the constitution suspended. Damiba has indicated a willingness to step down voluntarily if the rebels fulfil several conditions.
In late July, Niger’s military announced during an appearance on national television that President Mohamed Bazoum had been dismissed from office, a curfew declared, and the borders closed. Again, the commander of the Presidential Guard, General Abdurahmane Tchiani, appeared on TV Niger as the head of the formed “National Council for the Defence of the Fatherland”.