Mali’s military junta on Sunday said it was withdrawing from a west African force fighting extremists to protest its being rejected as head of the G5 regional group, reported Reuters.
“The government of Mali is deciding to withdraw from all the organs and bodies of the G5 Sahel, including the joint force,” it said in a statement.
The G5 Sahel was created in 2014 and its anti-extremist force launched in 2017. The group includes Mali, Mauritania, Chad, Burkina and Niger. The G5 Sahel force was set up to counter jihadists who have swept across the region in recent years, killing thousands of people and forcing millions to flee their homes.
A conference of heads of state of the G5 Sahel scheduled for February 2022 in Bamako had been due to mark the start of the Malian presidency of the G5. But nearly four months the meeting has still not taken place.
The statement said that Bamako firmly rejects the argument of a G5 member state which advances the internal national political situation to reject Mali’s exercising the G5 Sahel presidency. It did not mention the name of the country.
The Mali government said G5 Sahel member states’ opposition to Mali’s presidency is linked to manoeuvres by a state outside the region aiming desperately to isolate Mali.
Since January, Mali has been slapped with a series of economic and diplomatic sanctions from west African states to punish the military junta’s bid to stay in power for several more years, following coups in August 2020 and May 2021.
Mali’s military junta has opted for a two-year transition while the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has urged Bamako to organize elections in 16 months maximum.
Beyond Mali and Burkina, the G5 Sahel, composed of around 5,000 troops, includes Mauritania, Chad and Niger.
