NIGER, Burkina Faso and Mali have created a joint force that will soon be deployed in the restive Sahel region to face rising extremist violence, Niger’s defence minister said today

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

Niger, along with its neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, has battled for more than a decade an insurgency fought by jihadi groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.

Mr Mody also said that the unified force will have its own personnel, as well as air, land and intelligence resources, as well as a co-ordination system.

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

However, the security situation in the Sahel has worsened since the juntas took power and drove out the French and US militaries, some 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.

The juntas in the three countries left the Economic Community of West African States, the nearly 50-year-old regional bloc known as Ecowas, citing its domination by imperialist powers led by France, and created their own security partnership, the Alliance of Sahel States, in September last year.