On Sunday, the newly established Alliance of Sahel States (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger) warned that any attack on one of the member countries will be considered an attack on the other participants, according to the union's charter.
"Any attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of one or more contracting parties will be considered as an aggression against the other parties and will engage a duty of assistance and relief on all parties, […] including the 'use of armed force'," the Liptako-Gourma Charter, which established the bloc, states.
One for all and all for one
"Our priority is to fight against terrorism in the three countries," Mali's Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop told journalists. According to him, "this alliance will be a combination of military and economic efforts between the three countries".
Aggression "also includes any attack against the defense and security forces of one or more contracting parties, including when deployed in a national capacity in a theater of operations outside the area of the alliance". It also includes "any attack and in any place against the ships or aircraft of one or more parties".
The creation of this new alliance came against a backdrop of growing tensions among its founding members on one side and ECOWAS on the other, as well as the deterioration in relations between the three military countries and France, a former colonial power.
After the coup in Niger on 26 July, ECOWAS repeatedly threatened armed intervention and imposed heavy economic sanctions on the country. The organization believes that the military authorities must "restore constitutional order immediately" and release deposed President Mohamed Bazoum to reinstate him in his functions.