The military leaders of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have formed a new regional bloc, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), following their withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The leaders signed a treaty on Saturday during their inaugural summit in Niamey.
The event marked the first joint summit between Niger’s General Abdourahmane Tchiani, Burkina Faso’s Captain Ibrahim Traore, and Mali’s Colonel Assimi Goita since the trio came to power in their countries in successive coups.
The formation of AES comes after the three countries, each led by military governments established through coups in recent years, announced their departure from ECOWAS in January 6.
They criticized ECOWAS as being under the influence of France, their former colonial power, and have since severed military and defence ties with France in favour of enhancing relations with Russia.
Speaking at the summit, Tchiani called the 50-year-old ECOWAS “a threat to our states”, declaring the formation of a new confederation of three Sahel states.
“We are going to create an AES of the peoples, instead of an ECOWAS whose directives and instructions are dictated to it by powers that are foreign to Africa,” Tchiani said.
At the recently held ECOWAS leadership summit in Abuja, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was reelected as Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States.
President Tinubu stated in his acceptance speech that he would focus on consolidating the values of democracy and upholding the interest of the regional body.
“I have appointed the President of Senegal, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, to please become our Special Envoy to Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger Republic, along with the President of Togo, Faure Gnassingbé, to do around the clock work with our brothers in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger Republic, and to coordinate with me and the ECOWAS Commission, where necessary,” he said according to a statement by his spokesman Ajuri Ngelale.
“I have accepted to continue the service to the great members and the great minds that are committed to democratic values and our journey in the region. I will continue to serve our interests and build on democratic values and the structure that we inherited. Thank you very much.”
Speaking on the confederation treaty signed by Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso; ECOWAS Commission President Omar Touray said freedom of movement and a common market of 400 million people were some of the major benefits of the near 50-year-old bloc, but that these were under threat if the three countries left.
Funding of economic projects worth over $500 million in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger could also be stopped or suspended, Touray said at the ECOWAS summit in Nigerian capital Abuja.
“Considering these benefits, it is evident that disintegration will not only disrupt the freedom of movement and settlement of people, but it will also worsen insecurity in the region,” he said.
The three countries’ withdrawal will be a major blow to security cooperation particularly in terms of intelligence sharing and participation in the fight against terrorism, he added.
ECOWAS Defence Chiefs met in Abuja on June 28 to discuss the proposed $2.6bn budget for activating a 5,000-strong subregional standby force meant to curb terrorism and unconstitutional change of government.
Touray noted that the contribution of each member state to $2.6bn annual funding for the ECOWAS standby force would be determined by designated experts in the next three months.
The ECOWAS Commission President assures that ECOWAS would continue to engage with Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso on security talks.
