(Bloomberg) -- Military leaders from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso brushed off a proposal from a regional trade bloc to postpone their exit by six months in a final attempt to avoid its fracture.
The move “is yet another destabilization attempt” targeting the Sahel states, Mali’s military leader General Assimi Goita said in the joint statement on Sunday.
The junta-led nations were given a grace period until next July from their scheduled Jan. 29 exit to allow mediators more time to persuade them to stay in the Economic Community of West African States after announcing plans to leave earlier this year.
The decision to withdraw is “immediate and irreversible”, Goita said. Defense and security forces of the three countries would be put on “maximum alert”, according to the statement.
Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have all ended security cooperation with France and moved closer to nations including Russia, Iran and Turkey.
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