N’Djamena, 20 Feb. The heads of state and delegation of the regional counter-terrorism coalition of the G5 Sahel met this Monday for the first time without Mali to celebrate their sixth extraordinary summit with the aim of preserving and consolidating the cooperation and coordination of the four countries. .
Referring to “the revitalization of the organization”, the Heads of State and delegation assured that they had “taken note of Mali’s withdrawal from the G5 Sahel and reaffirmed their desire to preserve and consolidate this important framework for cooperation and coordination between the four countries”. . , they said in a statement after the summit, held in the capital of Chad.
However, the Heads of State and Delegation have requested that “exchanges with the sister Republic of Mali” be continued.
The G5 Sahel was created in 2014 to strengthen security in the region and was then made up of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.
Mali, a country ruled by a military junta since August 2020, withdrew from this regional alliance in May 2022, citing the delay in transferring the current presidency to Mali as stipulated by “established practice”.
Placed under the slogan “Regional cooperation in matters of development and security”, the summit took place in the presence of the President of the Chadian Transition and outgoing President of the G5 Sahel, Mahamat Idriss Deby; Mauritanian President Mohamed Oul Al Ghazouani; that of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum; and Burkina Faso Defense Minister Kassoum Coulibaly.
In the press release, the organization indicates that “the heads of state and delegation took note of the difficulties in the functioning of the defense and security system of the G5 Sahel”.
“In terms of development, the Heads of State and delegation were informed of the proposal for a new development and security strategy for the G5 Sahel countries and the new priority investment program 2023-2025 which will be presented at the next Council of Ministers,” the document said. underlined without giving further details.
Therefore, “they underlined the need to adapt the various strategic and operational documents to the current realities of the organization”, they added.
Among other questions, the interest in continuing “the rail and air projects of the G5 Sahel” was mentioned.
In addition, they underlined the importance of the mobilization of the international community by calling “for the involvement and commitment of all partners to support the new dynamic”.
During this meeting, the Chadian president handed over the presidency of the G5 Sahel to the Mauritanian president and they agreed that the next regular summit would be held in Niamey, the capital of Niger.