Niger, Mali accuse neighbours of sponsoring terrorism

The Foreign Ministers of Niger and Mali have accused neighbouring countries of sponsoring terrorism, but said they were willing to co-operate on some matters with the West African regional bloc Ecowas, from which they formally split last year. The accusations underscore regional rifts in West Africa that can complicate efforts to curb jihadist violence across the Sahel, a semi-arid belt of land stretching across Africa, reports CNBC Africa. Mali, Niger and neighbouring Burkina Faso have been battling jihadist insurgencies for over a decade. All three countries are led by military governments which seized power in coups and then broke away from Ecowas to form their own bloc, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). ‘There are neighbouring countries that are currently harbouring terrorist groups, supporting terrorist groups, or frequently receiving hostile forces that carry out operations against us,' Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop told Reuters on the sidelines of a security forum in Senegal. He declined to name which neighbours he was referring to but added that foreign powers outside the region were also involved. Niger’s Foreign Minister Bakary Yaou Sangare said in a speech at the forum that many countries seeking to cooperate with Niger on counterterrorism are also ‘fuelling, financing and sustaining’ terrorism in the country. He told Reuters he was referring to France. The French Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Niger’s military ruler Abdourahamane Tiani in January blamed French, Benin and Ivory Coast Presidents for sponsoring an attack on the country’s international airport, an accusation he made without offering any evidence. The current chairman of Ecowas, Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio, appealed to the AES states to either rejoin the regional bloc or collaborate more with it.

Full CNBC Africa report