Chad and Mauritania, the two remaining members of West Africa’s G5 Sahel alliance, have formed an alliance to dissolve the anti-rebel grouping after the three founding countries of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger left.

The development was confirmed in a statement dated December 5, 2023, between the two countries.

Chad and Mauritania expressed their respect and acknowledgement of the sovereign decision of Burkina Faso and Niger to exit the alliance, in line with Mali’s 2022 exit, and pledged to carry on with the founding principles of the convention.

According to the G5 founding convention, Article 20 provides that “the Alliance may be dissolved by the Member States by mutual agreement, and such agreement shall be reached through consultations between the Member States and shall be subject to the approval of at least three-fourths of the total number of Member States.

“We will implement all necessary measures in accordance with the G5 founding convention, notably Article 20,” the statement read in part.

This follows a decision by the military commanders of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, who announced their departure to leave the G5 anti-jihad group in Africa’s Sahel area on Saturday, December 2, 2023.

“The alliance isn’t meeting its goals. Worse, institutional bureaucracy from a previous era is hindering our countries’ justifiable goals of turning the G5 Sahel into a secure and developed region, leading us to believe that our process of independence and dignity is incompatible with G5 participation as it exists today,” they declared.

West Africa’s G5 Sahel alliance, which was created in 2014 with Mauritania, Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger as members and a counterinsurgency force added in 2017, backed by France, allegedly secured inadequate results, even as insecurity remains a major issue across the Sahel.