The “penholder” status is held by only three countries in the UNSC - France, the UK, and the US - granting them extensive powers to take the lead on all Council actions on a particular issue, such as holding emergency meetings and drafting resolutions including those related to the deployment of peacekeeping forces. On March 1, 2023, in a letter addressed to UNSC President Pedro Comissario Afonso, Mali announced an official challenge to France’s status as pen-holder on all matters concerning Mali in the Security Council, a position Paris has held since 2012. In August 2022, Mali filed a complaint with the UNSC accusing France of acts of aggression, destabilization, the violation of its airspace, and of delivering arms to militant groups. Both Mali and Burkina Faso have strongly believed that France is colluding with the jihadist rebels,” Kafui Kan-Senaya, the Secretary General of WAPO and the Research Secretary of the Socialist Movement of Ghana, told Peoples Dispatch. “Mali has complained to the UN Security Council several times that France has tried to undermine its sovereignty. Read More | The French are going, but the war in the Sahel continues Mali has similarly witnessed fatal violence, which has forced around 1.5 million people to flee their homes since 2012, with over 400,000 remaining internally displaced. France still maintains some 3,000 troops in the West African Sahel region, especially in Chad and in Niger, where French companies have been mining uranium for decades.įrance’s withdrawal from Mali and Burkina Faso took place in the aftermath of successive military coups since 2020, amid rising public unrest against France’s military presence even as armed conflict has expanded in the region.Īn estimated 40% of Burkina Faso’s territory is controlled by armed groups, with a surge in deadly attacks on civilians and Burkinabè forces in recent months. In 2022, French troops had also withdrawn from Mali after a nearly decade-long deployment in the country under Operation Barkhane. On February 18, Burkina Faso officially marked an end to France’s military presence on its territory, as French special forces (SF) withdrew from the Zagré military base in Kamboinsin, considered the rear base of France’s Special Operations Task Force in the Sahel region, with 400 soldiers deployed under Operation Sabre. And we must unite to create the capacity to defend our territories and interests.” the statement added. We must unite to claim respect for our cultures and civilization. ![]() “We must unite to coordinate and plan our production, trade, infrastructure, economic development, and defense. ![]() “We recognize in it the undying spirit of Pan-Africanism that moved the founders of modern Africa even after three generations of neo-colonial repression of such initiatives as the Mali Federation…or the “Union of African States” which involved Ghana, Guinea, and Mali and would have incorporated the Democratic Republic of Congo if the West had not destroyed the latter’s democracy and tortured and murdered its leader Patrice Lumumba,” WAPO said in a statement. This has been welcomed by progressive forces in the region, particularly the West Africa Peoples Organisation (WAPO), an “anti-imperialist network that promotes regional unity across West Africa” formed in Ghana in December 2022. Last week’s bilateral meeting also stressed the need to strengthen the “federation project.” The three-day visit took place just weeks after the foreign ministers of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Guinea proposed a “Bamako-Conakry-Ouagadougou” strategic axis for enhanced cooperation on issues ranging from trade to security. On matters of insecurity and armed conflict in the “Sahelo-Saharan strip,” the delegations noted the “need to combine their efforts with those of other countries of the sub-region,” and called for a “synergy of actions at the regional level.” Maïga met with his Burkinabè counterpart, Apollinaire Joachimson Kyélem de Tambèla, following which both delegations presented a cooperation agreement, emphasizing their commitment to making the “Bamako-Ouagadougou axis a successful model of sub-regional integration and South-South cooperation.” The prime minister of Mali’s transitional government, Choguel Kokalla Maïga, concluded a visit to neighboring Burkina Faso on February 26, as both countries have moved to forge closer ties.
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