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Tag: Burkina Faso

  • AFCON 2023: Algeria held to second draw by Burkina Faso

    AFCON 2023: Algeria held to second draw by Burkina Faso

    Baghdad Bounedjah scored twice to keep Algeria’s 2023 Africa Cup of Nations hopes alive as they drew against Burkino Faso in Group D.

    Mohamed Konate’s powerful header had put the Stallions ahead before Bounedjah equalised in the 51st minute, scoring from close range.

    Bertrand Traore’s penalty put Burkino Faso back in front 20 minutes later.

    But Bounedjah rose highest to head in Algeria’s second equaliser in added time to pick up a point.

    The Stallions had the better chances with Steeve Yago backheeling into the path of Blati Toure, whose shot flew just over the bar.

    Rayan Ait-Nouri gave away the penalty after fouling Issa Kabore in the box and Traore stepped up to convert his second goal in as many games.

    Bounedjah made up for shooting wide of the post in the first half by scoring twice in the second period. He reacted quickest in the box when Nabil Bentaleb’s effort was saved and then rose highest to gain a vital point for The Greens.

    Group D is now finely poised, with Burkina Faso top on four points.

    Algeria are second with two points from two games, while Angola would go joint top if they beat Mauritania.

    BBC

  • Coup: Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso set to form an alliance in West Africa

    Coup: Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso set to form an alliance in West Africa

    Following a successful military takeover in three West African countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, insinuations are rife that their foreign ministries are planning to create a confederation as part of effort to unite the countries within a federation.

    The top diplomats of the Alliance of Sahel States met in Bamako for two days.

    Reports say that their discussions were aimed at forming new alliance, with the ministers emphasising the importance of diplomacy, defence and development “to consolidate political and economic integration”.

    Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said the recommendations will be submitted to each head of state, who are due to meet in Bamako at an unspecified date.

    The countries’ economy and finance ministers who met on late November advised creating a stabilisation fund, an investment bank and a committee that would study an economic and monetary union.

    In mid-September, the military leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger signed a mutual defence pact.

    The Liptako-Gourma Charter, named after the eponymous historical region, established the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

  • UNGA: Burkina Faso warns against libya scenario in Niger, slams “International Hypocrisy”

    UNGA: Burkina Faso warns against libya scenario in Niger, slams “International Hypocrisy”

    In a speech lasting almost 40 minutes delivered in a vehement tone, Burkina Faso’s Minister of State addressed the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, UNGA, on Saturday, September 23.

    When Minister of State Bassolma Bazié took the floor before the green stone in the General Assembly, he honored the women and men who enabled the world to “dream and hope for a just and fair world”.

    However, he rapidly underlined that the world for which the said figures had dreamed, in fact, never dawned.

    “Every year, countless speeches with promises and pledges are given”, he said. Adding this was evidenced by “the discrepancy between speeches and facts on matters of principles contained in the UN Charter, including justice, equality, dignity, integrity, the right to self-determination, the sovereignty of states, the inviolability of territory and respect for international law, is what can be observed in Libya, in the Sahel, more precisely Niger, and in the Russia-Ukraine crisis.”

    He was warned that Niger could become a second Libya, strongly condemning the military intervention that preceded the death of late Libyan president Mouammar Gaddafi.

    “Intellectual honesty and history”, he stressed, “show us that “we owe the Libyan people sincere apologies”.

    Regional body ECOWAS has threatened Niger with a military intervention to reinstate Mohamed Baezoum following the July 26 coup in which he was deposed.

    Neighbouring Burkina Faso has repeatedly opposed the move. Just like Mali has.

    On Saturday, September 23, Malian Foreign Affairs minister maintained: “We will not sit on our hands”, in the event of military intervention in Niger Abdoulaye Diop said in his adress to the 78th session of the UNGA.

    State minister Bassolma Bazié also denounced in his lengthy address Africa’s lack of a permanent membership or veto rights in the Security Council. He called it as a “State crime” and “a crime of the UN”.

    “Inequality throughout the world is deliberate”, he insisted, listing what he sees as “the true wounds that poison coexistence”, namely “the lies of States”, diplomatic hypocrisy, thirst for power, the frenetic quest for profit, the diabolical spirit of domination, and exploitation of man by man.”

    According to the 2023 Global Terrorism Index, the Sahel region is the epicenter of terrorism accounting for more deaths from terrorism in 2022 than South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa, MENA, combined.”

  • Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso sign mutual defence pact

    Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso sign mutual defence pact

    Military leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger on Saturday signed a mutual defence pact, ministerial delegations from the three Sahel countries announced in Mali’s capital Bamako.

    The Liptako-Gourma Charter establishes the Alliance of Sahel States, AES, Mali’s junta leader Assimi Goita posted on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter.

    Its aim is to “establish an architecture of collective defence and mutual assistance for the benefit of our populations”, he wrote.

    The Liptako-Gourma region, where the Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger borders meet, has been ravaged by jihadism in recent years.

    “This alliance will be a combination of military and economic efforts between the three countries”, Mali’s Defence Minister Abdoulaye Diop told journalists.

    “Our priority is the fight against terrorism in the three countries.”

    A jihadist insurgency that erupted in northern Mali in 2012 spread to Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015.

    All three countries have undergone coups since 2020, most recently Niger, where soldiers in July overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum.

    The West African regional bloc ECOWAS has threatened to intervene militarily in Niger over the coup.

    Mali and Burkina Faso quickly responded by saying that any such operation would be deemed a “declaration of war” against them.

    The charter signed on Saturday binds the signatories to assist one another, including militarily, in the event of an attack on any one of them.

    “Any attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of one or more contracting parties shall be considered as an aggression against the other parties and shall give rise to a duty of assistance… including the use of armed force to restore and ensure security”, it states.

    It also binds the three countries to work to prevent or settle armed rebellions.

    Mali has, in addition to fighting jihadists linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State group, seen a resumption of hostilities by predominantly Tuareg armed groups over the past week.

    The escalation risks testing an already stretched army as well as the junta’s claims that it has successfully turned around a dire security situation.

    The successionist groups had in 2012 launched a rebellion before signing a peace agreement with the state in 2015. But that accord is now generally considered moribund.

    The renewed military activity by those armed groups has coincided with a series of deadly attacks attributed mainly to the Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist alliance Support Group for Islam and Muslims, GSIM.

    Mali’s junta pushed out France’s anti-jihadist force in 2022 and the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA in 2023.

    French troops have also been pushed out of Burkina Faso, while Niger’s coup leaders have renounced several military cooperation agreements with France.

  • France won’t cut cultural ties with Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso – Minister

    France won’t cut cultural ties with Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso – Minister

    France does not intend to cut cultural ties with Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, the culture minister, Rima Abdul-Malak said.

    Abdul-Malak said this after entertainment businesses slammed a decision this week to ban all partnerships with artists from these African countries.

    “France has always been an open and welcoming nation for artists, so this is not a shift in policy.

    “It’s an adaptation to an extremely deteriorated security context,” she told RTL radio.

    Niger’s government was overthrown in a military coup in July, while Burkina Faso has been overrun by hardline militants for years.

    Mali’s military has also been fighting a rebel alliance since August, which has led France to ban visas and halt development aid for all three countries.

    Abdul-Malak’s remarks appeared intended to defuse a confrontation with the union of artistic and cultural businesses SYNDEAC, which had demanded to meet with her after her ministry issued a directive to halt all cooperation and financial support to institutions from the three countries.

    SYNDEAC had called the ban “completely unprecedented”.

    “This total ban on three countries experiencing very serious crises makes no sense from an artistic point of view and is a major mistake from a political point of view”, the union said in a statement.

    Following the outcry, Abdul-Malak said she had asked her ministry to send out “clarifications” to the entertainment businesses.

    She added that existing partnerships would not be affected by the ban, only new projects that would require travel visas for artists.

    France is home to a large community of people with ties to the three African countries and performers from the region, in particular musicians, are popular at festivals

  • Without France there’d be no Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger – Macron

    Without France there’d be no Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger – Macron

    Without France’s military operations in the Sahel “there would probably no longer be a Mali … Burkina Faso, and I’m not sure there would still be Niger”, French President Emmanuel Macron told French publication Le Point.

    Macron is referring to the former colonial power’s interventions in the mid-2000s, Operations Serval and Barkhane.

    French troops were moved from Mali to Niger after its military leaders cut ties with the former colonial power.

    He said the interventions were done “at the request of African states” and were “successful” as his policy is facing scrutiny in the face of losing the allyship of last remaining ally, Niger, and increasing negative sentiment from Africans.

    He went on to explain that while these operations reflect France’s “honour” and “responsibility”, France could no longer remain involved “when there is a coup d’état, and the priority of the new regimes is not to fight terrorism” even though this is “tragic for the states concerned”.

    In the interview, Macron defended his administration’s policy in the Sahel as one of partnership rather than focusing on security.

    France refuses to acknowledge coup leader General Abdurahman Tchiani’s announcement that all military deals between Niger and France are terminated, and more than a thousand French troops remain stationed at a military base there.

  • Coup: Burkina Faso, Mali sign two decrees to render assistance to Niger Republic

    Coup: Burkina Faso, Mali sign two decrees to render assistance to Niger Republic

    The Military governments of Burkina Faso and Mali on Friday signed two decrees with the Junta in Niger Republic.

    The decrees is an agreement to allow them to intervene militarily on Nigeriene territory should the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) make good its threat to move in troops to restore democracy.

    Moreso, the Junta also expelled the ambassadors of Nigeria, Germany and France and told them to leave Niamey within 48 hours.

    ECOWAS warned the junta yesterday that it was not too late for the putschists to reconsider their action.

    It declared that contrary to insinuations in some quarters, its own planned restoration of democracy in Niamey is not  at the prompting of foreign powers.

    However, the US yesterday began the evacuation of its citizens from Niger ahead of a visit by the US Deputy Secretary of State, Molly Phee, to  Nigeria, Chad and Ghana  over the impasse.

    The foreign ministers of Niger,,Burkina Faso and Mali announced their military alliance through a joint communiqué.

    The accord allows Mali and Burkina Faso to provide military assistance to Niger in the event of military intervention against the putschists there.

    It also called  for the three countries to take joint action against terrorist groups active in their countries and secure their borders.

    Oaugadougou and Bamako sent Super Tucano jets to Niamey last week in a show of solidarity.

    Recall that the Niger Junta in a meeting with representatives of ECOWAS asked for three years to return democratic government to the country.

  • Coup: Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali form military pact

    Coup: Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali form military pact

    The junta in Niger, which seized power in a military coup on July 26, has formed a military alliance with the neighbouring countries of Burkina Faso and Mali.

    The rulers of Burkina Faso and Mali also seized power in coups.

    The three countries’ foreign ministers made a joint announcement in Niamey, Niger’s capital.

    The accord allows Mali and Burkina Faso to provide military assistance to Niger in the event of military intervention against the putschists there.

    A similar agreement already exists between Burkina Faso and Mali.

    Following the July coup in Niger, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) activated a standby force and threatened violence if the democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum was not reinstated and constitutional order restored.

    Talks between ECOWAS and the Nigerian junta took place previous weekend.

    The agreement which was announced also calls for the three countries to take joint action against terrorist groups active in their countries and secure their borders.

    For years, the countries in the Sahel region have been threatened by various terrorist militias, some of which have sworn allegiance to Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State.

    Under Bazoum, Niger was considered one of the last strategic partners of the West in the fight against the advance of Islamist terrorists in the Sahel.

  • Coup: Burkina Faso, Mali deploy fighter jets in Niger Republic in readiness for ECOWAS

    Coup: Burkina Faso, Mali deploy fighter jets in Niger Republic in readiness for ECOWAS

    West African countries of Burkina Faso and Mali have jointly deployed fighter jets to Niger Republic in readiness for any Military action that could be taken by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) forces in the country.

    Burkina Faso and Mali warned that any military intervention in Niger would be considered a declaration of war against them.

    Recall that ECOWAS had threatened to declare war on Niger Republic if the junta failed to reinstate the democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum.

    However, both governments said any military intervention in Niger would destabilise the region.

    A joint statement by both governments reads partly: “The disastrous consequences of a military intervention in Niger could destabilise the entire region.”

  • Burkina Faso threatens to withdraw from ECOWAS: Report

    Burkina Faso threatens to withdraw from ECOWAS: Report

    Burkina Faso has threatened to withdraw from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) if the bloc intervenes militarily in Niger.

    “We expect aggression. In any case, our head of state said: We are ready for aggression, (and) we support Niger. Burkina Faso is even ready to withdraw from ECOWAS because it considers the organization’s policy towards Niger illogical,” Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported on Saturday, citing Defense Minister Kassim Coulibaly.

    His comments came amid threats of ECOWAS military intervention in Niger, where the military deposed President Mohamed Bazoum.

    On Friday, the ECOWAS chiefs of staff meeting in Ghana declared that its military forces are ready to intervene as soon as orders are given to restore constitutional order.

    Coulibaly reaffirmed his country’s strong support for Niger in the face of “aggression.”

    He warned of increased activity by terrorist groups in the region if Niger falls into chaos, and emphasized that ECOWAS countries have no right to fight each other.

    He criticized ECOWAS sanctions imposed on Niger following the military coup and described as “shocking” the possibility of military intervention in the country.

    Burkina Faso, like Mali, has sided with the military that deposed President Bazoum.

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