Hi there,

The climate crisis, war, attacks on reproductive rights, book bans—these threats aren't looming. They are here now. If you think Democracy Now!'s reporting on these issues is essential, please sign up for a monthly gift of $10 or more. Right now, a generous donor will DOUBLE your gift, making your donation twice as valuable. We don't have a paywall or run ads, which means we’re not brought to you by the oil, gas, coal, or nuclear companies when we cover the climate catastrophe or by the weapons manufacturers when we cover war. Democracy Now! is funded by you and that’s why we need your help today. This is a challenging year for news organizations and nonprofits across the board, so please don’t close this window before making your gift. We're counting on you more than ever to sustain our reporting. Start your monthly donation of $10 or more right now and help Democracy Now! stay strong and independent all year round. Thank you so much.
-Amy Goodman

Non-commercial news needs your support.

We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution.

Please do your part today.

Donate

Military Juntas in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso Sign Mutual Defense Pact

HeadlineSep 18, 2023

The military leaders of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have signed a mutual defense pact where they agree to help each other militarily against outside aggression and against internal rebellions. The three nations are all former French colonies which experienced military coups in recent years. This is Mali’s Foreign Affairs Minister Abdoulaye Diop.

Abdoulaye Diop: “Any attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of one or more of the contracting parties will be considered as an aggression against the other parties and will entail a duty of assistance and relief on the part of all parties.”

This comes as tension is escalating between France and Niger’s new military leaders. On Saturday, thousands of protesters rallied outside a French military base in Niger after French President Emmanuel Macron claimed France’s ambassador is being held hostage at the French Embassy.

Protesters called on French troops to leave Niger.
bq. Issaka Oumarou: “We know that Emmanuel Macron is looking for a war pretext to invade our country. But Emmanuel Macron must understand that the people of Niger are determined. Emmanuel Macron must understand that we have understood their game, and we are not going to fall into their trap.”

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top