Politics Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger form confederation

The West African Sahel states of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, which are ruled by military juntas, have founded a confederation. The Alliance of Sahel States (AES) confederation is to coordinate more closely in foreign and security policy, regulate the free movement of people and goods among themselves and establish a joint investment bank, it was announced at the end of a summit in the Nigerien capital Niamey. The heads of state Colonel Assimi Goïta (Mali), General Abdourahamane Tiani (Niger) and Captain Ibrahim Traoré (Burkina Faso) are at the head of transitional governments following military coups and have postponed elections for years or not announced them at all.

The Juntas initially founded the Alliance of Sahel States in the autumn as a defense alliance and announced their withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) in January. They accuse the regional bloc, which had condemned the seizures of power and imposed sanctions, of being influenced by the interests of ex-colonial power France.

Despite many years of international anti-terror missions, the three states are being overrun with violence by Islamist terrorist groups. Since the coups between 2020 and 2023, all three have moved closer to Russia and distanced themselves from former foreign partners. On Saturday, the German government announced the failure of negotiations on the continued operation of a German army base in Niamey.

At an Ecowas summit on Sunday, one of the issues to be discussed will be how to deal with the withdrawal of the three countries, which is due to take effect in January. The 15 Ecowas states are closely linked economically, politically and socially, and most West African francophone states are also part of a common monetary and economic union.

SDA