Niger forms military pact with two other countries amid ECOWAS  threat.

Niger forms military pact with two other countries amid ECOWAS  threat.

Amid ECOWAS security threat, the Niger Republic junta, which took power in a military coup on July 26, has formed a military alliance with neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali.

The Foreign Affairs Ministers of the three countries  jointly made the announcement in Niamey, Niger’s capital.

Recall that Burkina Faso and Mali’s rulers also came into power through coups.

The agreement permits Mali and Burkina Faso to provide military aid to Niger in the event of military action against the putschists there.

Burkina Faso and Mali have already reached a similar deal.

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

The reported agreement also asks for the three countries to work together to combat terrorist groups operating within their borders and safeguard their borders.

For years, numerous terrorist factions, some of which have sworn allegiance to Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State, have targeted Sahelian countries.

Niger was considered one of the West’s last strategic partners in the fight against the expansion of Islamist militants in the Sahel under Bazoum.