Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger’s regional alliance project in final phase

Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger—all governed by the Junta—have completed their preparations to establish a confederation, abandoning their erstwhile colonial master, France, in favour of deeper connections with Russia.

In order to reach a consensus on a document forming the Confederation of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), their foreign ministers convened on Friday in Niamey, the capital of Niger.

“The objective was to finalise the draft text relating to the institutionalisation and operationalisation of the Confederation of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES)”, said Niger Foreign Minister Bakary Yaou Sangare as he read the final statement late Friday.

He said the text would be adopted by the heads of state of the three countries at a summit, without specifying the date.

“We can consider very clearly, today, that the Confederation of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) has been born,” Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said after meeting General Abdourahamane Tiani, the head of Nigerien military regime.

The third foreign minister at the meeting was Burkina Faso’s Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore.

The Sahel region has been subject to deadly jihadist violence for years, which they accused France of not being able to curb.

The three countries said late January they were quitting The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which they said was under French influence, to create their own regional grouping.

AFP