West Africa's junta-led nations announce deployment of a joint force as extremist violence spikes

DAKAR, Senegal — The junta-led West African countries of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali have created a joint force that will soon be deployed in the restive Sahel region, Niger's defense minister said Wednesday, to face rising extremist violence.

The force of 5,000 personnel will be posted in the three countries, Salifou Mody said during an interview on state television, adding that some joint operations have already taken place.

Niger, along with its neighbors Mali and Burkina Faso, has battled for over a decade an insurgency fought by jihadi groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russia's mercenary units for security assistance.

Mody also said the unified force will have its own personnel, as well as air, land, and intelligence resources, and a coordination system.

''We are in the same space. We face the same types of threats, in particular this threat from criminal groups," the defense minister said. ''We had to pool our efforts.''

However, the security situation in the Sahel has worsened since the juntas took power, analysts say, with a record number of attacks and civilians killed both by Islamic militants and government forces. The violence in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso has killed more than 3,470 people in the last six months while 2.6 million people are currently displaced, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

After coming into power, the juntas in the three countries left the Economic Community of West African States, the nearly 50-year-old regional bloc known as ECOWAS, and created their own security partnership, the Alliance of Sahel States, in September last year

Some analysts described it as an attempt to legitimize their military governments amid coup-related sanctions and strained relations with neighbors.