Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have finalised plans to form a new confederation, the Confederation of the Alliance of Sahel States, marking a geopolitical shift in the region.<\/p>\n
This move showed their departure from their former colonial ruler, France, and a turn towards closer relations with Russia.<\/p>\n
The announcement was made following a meeting of the three nations\u2019 foreign ministers in Niger\u2019s capital, Niamey, on Friday, as reported by AFP.<\/p>\n
Niger\u2019s Foreign Minister, Bakary Sangare, confirmed the finalisation of the draft text that outlines the institutionalisation and operationalisation of the AES.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe objective was to finalise the draft text relating to the institutionalisation and operationalisation of the Confederation of the Alliance of Sahel States,\u201d Sangare said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can consider very clearly, today, that the Confederation of the Alliance of Sahel States has been born,\u201d declared Mali\u2019s Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop.<\/p>\n
The Heads of State of the three countries will formally adopt the text at an upcoming summit, although the exact date has not been specified.<\/p>\n
Widely seen as West Africa\u2019s top political and regional authority, the 15-nation bloc of ECOWAS \u2013 formed in 1975 to promote economic integration in member states \u2013 has struggled in recent years to reverse a wave of military takeovers in the region, including Mali in 2020 and 2021, Burkina Faso in 2022, and Niger last year.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the three countries, which mulled a counterforce, the Alliance of Sahel States, against the regional bloc after the overthrow of the democratically elected government in Niger, announced their exit from ECOWAS on Sunday, January 28, 2024.<\/p>\n
The three countries, which are currently under military rule, said in a joint statement that they ceased to be members of ECOWAS as the regional body had allegedly \u201cmoved away from the ideals of its founding fathers and pan-Africanism.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sanctions were, however, lifted in February 2024 following the intervention of Nigeria\u2019s ex-military head of state, Gen. Yakubu Gowon.<\/p>\n
The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Touray, said the decisions were taken in the interest of unity and security in the African sub-region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have finalised plans to form a new confederation, the Confederation of the Alliance of Sahel States, marking a geopolitical shift in the region. This move…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":112011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n