The military leaders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger signed a mutual defense pact over the weekend, establishing the so-called Alliance of Sahel States.
All three of the West African nations, which neighbor one another, have military governments that seized control in a coup conducted since 2020, with Niger's civilian-led government being the most recent to fall in late July.
Col. Assimi Goita, Mali's junta leader, announced the signing of the Liptako-Gourma Charter on Saturday.
"I signed today with the heads of state of Burkina Faso and Niger the Liptako-Gourma Charter, establishing the Alliance of Sahel States with the objective of establishing an architecture of collective defense and assistance mutual for the benefit of our populations," Goita said in a statement published to X, the social media platform formerly know as Twitter.
The Liptako-Gourma region is the tri-border area of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger and home to a growing complex crisis of insecurity and Islamic terrorism.
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