West Africa’s junta-led nations – Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali – are set to deploy a 5,000-strong joint force to address escalating security challenges in the central Sahel region. According to Niger’s Defense Minister Salifou Mody, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) force, equipped with air assets, intelligence resources, and equipment, will soon commence operations across the three nations. This initiative follows the countries’ decision to sever ties with Western powers and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) after they each fell to a series of coups between 2020 and 2023. The Sahel region has been battling with Islamist insurgencies linked to Al Qaeda and ISIS for about a decade. The crisis has only worsened since the coups, despite promises to tackle them.
Source: Reuters