Niger Republic and Burkina Faso have formally withdrawn from the G5 Sahel
G5 Sahel was created on December 19, 2014 by Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger Republic and Chad to pool capacities and means to make the Sahel an area of security and development.
A joint statement by Niger Republic and Burkina Faso said that the withdrawal affects “all G5 Sahel bodies and bodies including the Joint Force as of November 29, 2023.”
According to the joint statement: “The Transitional Governments of Burkina Faso and the Republic of Niger, after a thorough review of the G5 Sahel and the functioning of this organisation, have decided in full sovereignty to withdraw Burkina Faso and Niger from all G5 Sahel bodies and bodies including the Joint Force as of November 29, 2023.
“Created on December 19, 2014, by Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauretania, Niger and Chad, the G5 Sahel intended to pool capacities and means to make the Sahel an area of security and development.
“However, it is clear that after nearly 9 years of existence, the organisation is struggling to achieve its objectives. Worse, the legitimate ambitions of our States, to make the G5 Sahel space a zone of security and development, are thwarted by institutional heaviness, heaviness of another age that finish convincing us that the path of independence and dignity on which we are today engaged, is contrary to participation in the G5 Sahel in its current form.
“In the common understanding of our two States, the G5 Sahel cannot serve foreign interests at the expense of those of the peoples of the Sahel, let alone accept the diktat of any power in the name of a misguided and infantilising partnership that denies the right to sovereignty of our peoples and our States.
“It is with all lucidity that Burkina Faso and the Republic of Niger have taken the historical responsibility to withdraw from this organisation.
“The Transitional Governments of Burkina Faso and the Republic of Niger deeply committed to the achievement of a lasting peace in the Sahelian space remain convinced of the need for a united commitment of our States in the fight against terrorism and cross-border crime as well as for the development.
“To this end, Burkina Faso and Niger will maintain their dynamic of cooperation, particularly within the Alliance of Sahel States, to make our Sahelian space an area of sovereignty assumed for the reconquest of our territories and the restoration of peace and security as a guarantee of shared development for the peoples of the Sahel.”
