Burkina Faso, Niger Pull Out of Regional Anti-Jihadist Force

Facts

• The military leaders of Burkina Faso and Niger officially announced their withdrawal from the five-nation G5 force, set up to combat jihadism in the Sahel region, on Saturday. The two African nations joined Mali in leaving the alliance.¹
• Both West African countries decided to 'quit all instances of the G5 Sahel, including the joint force,' the military leaders said. In a joint statement, they accused the G5 of 'failing to achieve its objectives' and claimed that the alliance serves 'foreign interests.'²
• Now only Chad and Mauritania remain in the G5, founded in 2014, whose leaders agreed in 2017 to deploy a joint counter-terrorism force backed by France and largely financed by the EU. However, only a few joint G5 missions were ever launched while the security situation continued to deteriorate.³
• The announcement came after the foreign ministers of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger recommended the creation of a confederation on Friday with the ultimate objective of uniting their countries within a federation. The three neighbors had previously launched the Alliance of Sahel States, a pact to bolster mutual economic and defense ties.⁴
• Meanwhile, Burkina Faso banned 'all distribution methods' of the daily Le Monde on Saturday after accusing the French newspaper of biased reporting on a deadly jihadist attack by The Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims. Le Monde claimed that 40 civilians were killed in the attack in the country's North, while Burkinabe security sources said 'few' military personnel were killed.⁵
• Since 2015, landlocked Burkina Faso is grappling with jihadist violence, committed by insurgents linked to the Islamic State group and al-Qaida — stemming from neighboring Mali and also spreading to Niger. In Burkina Faso alone, more than 2M people were displaced and over 17K killed as a result of the violence.⁶

Sources: ¹France 24, ²The Guardian, ³VOA, ⁴Punch Newspapers, ⁵Le Monde and ⁶Barron's.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by The National. The withdrawal of Niger and Burkina Faso from the G5 is a further setback for the French-backed fight against jihadist terrorism in the Sahel. The recent rise in terrorist attacks in the region, which France alone could not prevent, made Paris a scapegoat for the military juntas and served as a justification for overthrowing the governments and stirring up anti-French sentiment. Since they seized power, however, the military rulers have proved incapable of getting the terrorist threat under control, while structural social and economic issues prevent any development. Populist measures such as leaving the G5 are not enough to bring stability to the region.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Morning Star. The fact that the transitional governments of Niger and Burkina Faso are following Mali in exiting the G5 is an overdue step and a further blow to France's covert neo-colonial project in the region. The organization and the alleged 'fight against terror' were just another tool to justify France's military presence in the region. It should also not go unmentioned that it was the NATO war against Libya that triggered the security crisis in the region in the first place. The people of the Sahel reject the continued military domination and economic exploitation by France and the collective West, and only if the region is truly independent will there be a chance for peace.