The military regimes in Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali have agreed to set up a joint force to tackle security threats across their territories.
Niger’s armed forces chief, Moussa Salaou in a televised statement on Wednesday after a meeting with his counterparts said the new task force would be “operational as soon as possible to meet the security challenges”.
The decision is the latest sign of closer alignment to emerge since the three neighbours in West Africa’s insurgency-torn central Sahel region severed military ties with longstanding allies including France and formed a cooperation pact known as the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).