🇳🇪 🇲🇱 🇧🇫 Alliance of #Sahel States Sign Confederation Treaty: https://theatlasnews.co/latest/2024/07/07/alliance-of-sahel-states-sign-confederation-treaty/
The first summit of the members of the Alliance of Sahel States (#AES), #Niger, #Mali, and #BurkinaFaso, held on July 6th in Niger’s capital of Niamey, has produced the ‘Niamey Declaration’ which sets out to turn the alliance into a confederation. The AES summit occurred just one day before the Economic Community of West African States (#ECOWAS)- which the three Sahelian nations withdrew from early this year- held its own summit, to discuss how to reintegrate the withdrawn states back into the economic bloc. @AtlasNewsTelegram
The concept of a confederation of the nations in the Liptako-Gourma subregion is not a new one, with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed on December 1970 that sought to create the ‘Liptako-Gourma Region Integrated Development Authority.’ Moreover, amendments were made to the initial MOU in 2000, and most recently 2017.
Since coming to power through a series of successive coups between 2021 and 2023, the military juntas of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, have worked to remove themselves from regional platforms such as ECOWAS and cut ties with the West and other multilateral institutions. Speaking at the summit, Niger’s military leader, General Abdourahmane Tchiani, claimed that ECOWAS is a “threat to our states,” referencing the period after Niger’s coup during which the economic bloc placed heavy sanctions on the country and threatened military intervention in an attempt to force a handover of power back to Niger’s civilian leaders.
Despite announcing in March the creation of a joint force to address the terrorism ‘scourge’ facing the region, little gains have been made against the many al-Qaeda and Islamic State-linked armed groups making use of the three nation’s porous borders to conduct hit-and-run attacks.
As a result, the Permanent Strategic Framework for the Defense and Protection of Azawad (CSP-DPA), an umbrella group of Tuareg rebel groups operating in Mali, released a statement on the same day of the AES summit calling for Burkina Faso and Niger “not to let themselves be involved in any form of interference in the conflict opposing it [the Tuaregs] to the central military power in Bamako.”
Isolation from regional and international platforms has pushed the three nation’s military leaders to pursue an ever-closer relationship with the likes of Russia and China, with Chinese Ambassador to Burkina Faso, Lu Shan, donating $26 million to the country to be used in ‘a project of its choice for the benefit of the population,’ just two days before the AES summit.
How effective the confederation will be is yet to be seen, as Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso remain multidimensionally poor nations, with with a global poverty ranking out of 190 nations, of 6, 15, and 16, respectively.
Moreover, Mali is currently waging a multi-pronged counter-insurgency campaign with aid from Russia’s Wagner group against the likes of the Tuaregs, multiple al-Qaeda-linked armed groups, and multiple Islamic State-linked groups.
The military junta of Burkina Faso controls just half of its national territory, with the other half under competing claim by various militant Islamic groups, while 13 percent of Niger’s population will be at crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity between June and August this year, according to UNICEF statistics.
Thus, while a Sahel confederation has the ability to bring welcome change to the region, key issues must first be addressed. A deteriorating security environment, absolute poverty and malnutrition, as well as a lack of governmental transparency are likely to be key ‘speed-bumps’ on the road to an effective confederation framework.
Full article on theatlasnews.co
The first summit of the members of the Alliance of Sahel States (#AES), #Niger, #Mali, and #BurkinaFaso, held on July 6th in Niger’s capital of Niamey, has produced the ‘Niamey Declaration’ which sets out to turn the alliance into a confederation. The AES summit occurred just one day before the Economic Community of West African States (#ECOWAS)- which the three Sahelian nations withdrew from early this year- held its own summit, to discuss how to reintegrate the withdrawn states back into the economic bloc. @AtlasNewsTelegram
The concept of a confederation of the nations in the Liptako-Gourma subregion is not a new one, with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed on December 1970 that sought to create the ‘Liptako-Gourma Region Integrated Development Authority.’ Moreover, amendments were made to the initial MOU in 2000, and most recently 2017.
Since coming to power through a series of successive coups between 2021 and 2023, the military juntas of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, have worked to remove themselves from regional platforms such as ECOWAS and cut ties with the West and other multilateral institutions. Speaking at the summit, Niger’s military leader, General Abdourahmane Tchiani, claimed that ECOWAS is a “threat to our states,” referencing the period after Niger’s coup during which the economic bloc placed heavy sanctions on the country and threatened military intervention in an attempt to force a handover of power back to Niger’s civilian leaders.
Despite announcing in March the creation of a joint force to address the terrorism ‘scourge’ facing the region, little gains have been made against the many al-Qaeda and Islamic State-linked armed groups making use of the three nation’s porous borders to conduct hit-and-run attacks.
As a result, the Permanent Strategic Framework for the Defense and Protection of Azawad (CSP-DPA), an umbrella group of Tuareg rebel groups operating in Mali, released a statement on the same day of the AES summit calling for Burkina Faso and Niger “not to let themselves be involved in any form of interference in the conflict opposing it [the Tuaregs] to the central military power in Bamako.”
Isolation from regional and international platforms has pushed the three nation’s military leaders to pursue an ever-closer relationship with the likes of Russia and China, with Chinese Ambassador to Burkina Faso, Lu Shan, donating $26 million to the country to be used in ‘a project of its choice for the benefit of the population,’ just two days before the AES summit.
How effective the confederation will be is yet to be seen, as Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso remain multidimensionally poor nations, with with a global poverty ranking out of 190 nations, of 6, 15, and 16, respectively.
Moreover, Mali is currently waging a multi-pronged counter-insurgency campaign with aid from Russia’s Wagner group against the likes of the Tuaregs, multiple al-Qaeda-linked armed groups, and multiple Islamic State-linked groups.
The military junta of Burkina Faso controls just half of its national territory, with the other half under competing claim by various militant Islamic groups, while 13 percent of Niger’s population will be at crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity between June and August this year, according to UNICEF statistics.
Thus, while a Sahel confederation has the ability to bring welcome change to the region, key issues must first be addressed. A deteriorating security environment, absolute poverty and malnutrition, as well as a lack of governmental transparency are likely to be key ‘speed-bumps’ on the road to an effective confederation framework.
Full article on theatlasnews.co
Atlas
Alliance of Sahel States Sign Confederation Treaty
The first summit of the members of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso, held on July 6th in Niger's capital of Niamey, has produce
🤡5❤2👍2
Forwarded from Our Wars, Today (Our Wars)
This media is not supported in your browser
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
This media is not supported in your browser
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
This media is not supported in your browser
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
This media is not supported in your browser
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
This media is not supported in your browser
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital was destroyed by a Russian missile on Monday, shaking #Kyiv, the capital, with images of bloodied and injured children, and sending hundreds racing to the scene to help clear twisted metal and smashed concrete in a desperate search for survivors. @ourwarstoday
The hospital strike was part of a barrage of bombings by Moscow across the country, including one of its deadliest assaults on Kyiv since the first months of the war. At least 38 people were killed across the country, including 27 in Kyiv. More than 100 people were injured. Residential buildings, public health facilities, and other civilian institutions across the country were damaged, destroyed, and were suffered casualties from the #Russian attack.
The #Ukrainian Air Force said it shot down 30 out of the 38 missiles launched by #Russia during the attack, which began in the midmorning.
“The attack was massive, combined with the use of aerial, ballistic and cruise missiles,” said Serhii Popko, the head of the Kyiv military administration. “The missiles flew at the capital in waves and from different directions.”
At the hospital, one doctor and another adult were killed and at least 10 more people were injured, including seven children, local officials said. At least three children were pulled from the rubble, #Ukraine’s emergency services agency said.
Olha Melnyk, the mother of a child being treated in the oncology unit of the hospital — who was not there at the time — said she was in a state of shock.
“There were so many families like us, who had their own personal war with oncology already,” she said. “And you know, these children can’t go to the basement, because all the tubes and treatments. If they do this, there will be no healing at all, you can’t interrupt the healing session.”
The United Nation’s Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday to address the strikes. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine called for the meeting, saying President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia should be held accountable.
“To everything that they try to discuss with him about peace, Russia responds with strikes on houses and hospitals,” he said. “That is why we can only force Russia to make peace.”
Video of the attack taken by a Kyiv resident and verified by The New York Times showed a missile moving downward at high speed before striking the children’s hospital. Fabian Hoffman, a doctoral research fellow at the University of Oslo who specializes in missile technology, identified the weapon as a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile.
The type of the weapon and its trajectory suggested that Russia intentionally targeted the hospital, according to Mr. Hoffman. He said that the trajectory of the missile “appears controlled,” and that it was likely programmed before launch.
Mr. Hoffman also noted that the missile was not struck by a Ukrainian anti-air defense interceptor, and was “fully intact, with no visible damage to the fuselage.”
The Ukrainian Security Services recovered fragments of what it said was the missile that struck the hospital, also identifying it as a Kh-101 cruise missile.
The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office said seven of the casualties on Monday were caused by missile debris that fell onto another medical facility, a women’s hospital, in Kyiv.
The hospital strike was part of a barrage of bombings by Moscow across the country, including one of its deadliest assaults on Kyiv since the first months of the war. At least 38 people were killed across the country, including 27 in Kyiv. More than 100 people were injured. Residential buildings, public health facilities, and other civilian institutions across the country were damaged, destroyed, and were suffered casualties from the #Russian attack.
The #Ukrainian Air Force said it shot down 30 out of the 38 missiles launched by #Russia during the attack, which began in the midmorning.
“The attack was massive, combined with the use of aerial, ballistic and cruise missiles,” said Serhii Popko, the head of the Kyiv military administration. “The missiles flew at the capital in waves and from different directions.”
At the hospital, one doctor and another adult were killed and at least 10 more people were injured, including seven children, local officials said. At least three children were pulled from the rubble, #Ukraine’s emergency services agency said.
Olha Melnyk, the mother of a child being treated in the oncology unit of the hospital — who was not there at the time — said she was in a state of shock.
“There were so many families like us, who had their own personal war with oncology already,” she said. “And you know, these children can’t go to the basement, because all the tubes and treatments. If they do this, there will be no healing at all, you can’t interrupt the healing session.”
The United Nation’s Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday to address the strikes. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine called for the meeting, saying President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia should be held accountable.
“To everything that they try to discuss with him about peace, Russia responds with strikes on houses and hospitals,” he said. “That is why we can only force Russia to make peace.”
Video of the attack taken by a Kyiv resident and verified by The New York Times showed a missile moving downward at high speed before striking the children’s hospital. Fabian Hoffman, a doctoral research fellow at the University of Oslo who specializes in missile technology, identified the weapon as a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile.
The type of the weapon and its trajectory suggested that Russia intentionally targeted the hospital, according to Mr. Hoffman. He said that the trajectory of the missile “appears controlled,” and that it was likely programmed before launch.
Mr. Hoffman also noted that the missile was not struck by a Ukrainian anti-air defense interceptor, and was “fully intact, with no visible damage to the fuselage.”
The Ukrainian Security Services recovered fragments of what it said was the missile that struck the hospital, also identifying it as a Kh-101 cruise missile.
The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office said seven of the casualties on Monday were caused by missile debris that fell onto another medical facility, a women’s hospital, in Kyiv.
🤬20💔6❤3👍1
Forwarded from Our Wars, Today (Our Wars)
Our Wars, Today
Photo
This media is not supported in your browser
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
Media is too big
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
This media is not supported in your browser
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
This media is not supported in your browser
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
This media is not supported in your browser
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
This media is not supported in your browser
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
This media is not supported in your browser
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
At the destroyed children's hospital in Kyiv, Volodymyr Zhovnir, the director, said more than 600 children were being treated there when it was hit. Doctors and others inside the hospital shared images of bloodstained hallways, collapsed ceilings and destroyed operating rooms. @ourwarstoday
Dr. Tymofii Dvorovyi, a surgeon, said he had managed to get his patients into the bomb shelter just before the strike. “I don’t know about other departments,” he said to NYT. “There were surgeons who were performing operations when the missile hit.”
After the explosion, he said, he saw scores of “badly injured” people staggering through the halls.
A two-story medical building next to the main hospital sustained the most extensive damage. Shortly after an explosion tore through it, a woman carrying a small child covered in dust and blood emerged near the entrance. More dazed and bloody staff, many carrying children, followed.
The explosion also blasted out the windows of the main hospital and sent shrapnel tearing into the building. “Now, we are evacuating the patients to another hospital,” Dr. Dvorovyi said.
Viktor Lyashko, the Ukrainian health minister, said intensive care units, operating rooms and the oncology department had all sustained damage.
“Maybe Russians knew that families like us are an easy target,” said Ms. Melnyk, the mother whose child was being treated at the hospital. “I just can’t believe it’s happening.”
Two barrages of missiles, the second being the one that struck the hospital, started before dawn and lasted until later in the morning. In addition to city structures damaged or razed, three transformer substations were also destroyed in the Russian barrage, according to DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy utility. All told, damage was reported in at least seven districts of the capital.
More Photography: https://news.1rj.ru/str/dobronosov
Dr. Tymofii Dvorovyi, a surgeon, said he had managed to get his patients into the bomb shelter just before the strike. “I don’t know about other departments,” he said to NYT. “There were surgeons who were performing operations when the missile hit.”
After the explosion, he said, he saw scores of “badly injured” people staggering through the halls.
A two-story medical building next to the main hospital sustained the most extensive damage. Shortly after an explosion tore through it, a woman carrying a small child covered in dust and blood emerged near the entrance. More dazed and bloody staff, many carrying children, followed.
The explosion also blasted out the windows of the main hospital and sent shrapnel tearing into the building. “Now, we are evacuating the patients to another hospital,” Dr. Dvorovyi said.
Viktor Lyashko, the Ukrainian health minister, said intensive care units, operating rooms and the oncology department had all sustained damage.
“Maybe Russians knew that families like us are an easy target,” said Ms. Melnyk, the mother whose child was being treated at the hospital. “I just can’t believe it’s happening.”
Two barrages of missiles, the second being the one that struck the hospital, started before dawn and lasted until later in the morning. In addition to city structures damaged or razed, three transformer substations were also destroyed in the Russian barrage, according to DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy utility. All told, damage was reported in at least seven districts of the capital.
More Photography: https://news.1rj.ru/str/dobronosov
🤬27💔6❤2🔥2