Source: Pan-African News
AES nations form a 5,000-troop anti-terrorism joint force
23 Jan 2025
During an interview on state television on Tuesday, January 21, 2025, the Nigerien Defense Minister General Salifou Modi revealed that the AES nations—Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger—will be launching a joint force of 5,000 troops to battle Islamic State- and Al Qaeda-linked jihadist in the coming weeks. The expeditionary force will be equipped with air, land, and intelligence resources, increasing its mobility and response capabilities. Although the jurisdiction of the joint force will be throughout the territories of all three nations, it will be concentrated in the tri-border area—the epicenter of jihadist attacks. By operating in unison, the AES nations expect the expeditionary force to engage armed groups carrying out attacks in one AES nation and crossing the border into another. Likewise, by eschewing the futile, regional G5 Sahel Joint Force and the inept, international UN missions, the AES nations plan to use the joint force to focus on security challenges unique to them. Finally, the AES nations have canceled military alliances with Western nations like their former colonizer France, pivoting toward serious partners like Russia, China, and Turkey for cutting-edge matériel and productive military support. For instance, AES ministers met with officials from Russia’s aerospace agency Roscosmos in the Malian capital Bamako in September 2024 to sign agreements for the three Sahelian nations to receive satellites for surveillance and secure communications to assist them in defeating armed groups operating in their countries.