Rant or final decision? The ruling junta in Mali announced on Sunday May 15 that it would leave the G5-Sahel and its anti-jihadist force, an organization it accuses of being “instrumentalized” by the “outside” and of which she is prevented from assuming the presidency in order, according to Bamako, to better isolate her. After the announced departure of Mali, the Sahelian regional organization is reduced to four countries: Mauritania, Chad, Burkina Faso and Niger. This departure further isolates Mali from its neighbours, while Bamako has been the target of economic and diplomatic measures by West African states since January 9 to sanction the junta’s intention to remain in power for several more years, after two putschs in August 2020 then in May 2021.
Isolation
This departure also comes after the announcement in early May by the junta of the end of the 2014 cooperation treaty with France, as well as the 2013 and 2020 agreements setting the legal framework for the presence of the anti-jihadist force Barkhane and the regrouping of European special forces Takuba, initiated by France. Relations with Western states are deteriorating as Mali turns to Russia. France and its allies accuse the junta of having secured the services of the Russian private security company Wagner, with controversial actions, which Bamako disputes. “The government of Mali decides to withdraw from all organs and bodies of the G5-Sahel, including the Joint Force” anti-jihadist, indicates a press release from the transitional government, published on the evening of May 15.
Communique #30 of the Government of Mali relating to the withdrawal of Mali from all organs and bodies of the G5-Sahel including the Joint Force. pic.twitter.com/OzuaEzNqWn
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mali (@MaliMaeci) May 15, 2022
Reasons for anger
Bilateral relations with the G5-Sahel countries “remain maintained”, said the Malian Minister of Territorial Administration, Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga, on Malian public television. At the origin of the wrath of Bamako against the G5, the conference of heads of state of the organization scheduled for February 2022 in Bamako and in front of “consecrate the beginning of the Malian presidency of the G5”. But “nearly a quarter after the term indicated”this conference “still hasn’t held”, says the press release from the Malian government. Bamako “firmly rejects the argument of a member state of the G5-Sahel which advances the national internal political situation to oppose the exercise by Mali of the presidency of the G5-Sahel”without mentioning this State.
“Extra-regional country”
According to the Malian government, “the opposition of certain G5-Sahel states to the presidency of Mali is linked to the maneuvers of an extra-regional state desperately aiming to isolate Mali”, without also specifying the latter State. Bamako accuses the G5-Sahel of “Autonomy loss” and be a victim of “instrumentalization” and a “serious malfunction” of its organs. In addition to Mali and Burkina Faso, the G5-Sahel, made up of around 5,000 soldiers, is made up of Mauritania, Chad and Niger.
Operational capacity
The military coups in Mali and Burkina Faso, two of the five members of the Multilateral Anti-Jihadist Force G5-Sahel, are undermining its operational capacity, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently estimated in a report. handed over to the Security Council on May 11.
“I am deeply concerned about the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the Sahel, as well as the potentially adverse effect that the uncertain political situation in Mali, Burkina Faso and beyond will have on efforts to make the Force more operational. joint G5-Sahel.”
Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary Generalin a report
The five countries of the G5-Sahel had created this organization in 2014 and then launched its military force in 2017, while the noose of the jihadists tightened around these states, with under-equipped armies.
Jihadist groups
Mali has been the scene since 2012 of operations by jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State organization, as well as violence of all kinds perpetrated by self-proclaimed self-defense militias and “bandits”. This violence, which started in the north in 2012, spread to the center, then to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger. They caused thousands of civilian and military deaths as well as hundreds of thousands of displaced persons, despite the deployment of UN, French and African forces.