Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger form the "Confederation of Sahel States"

During a weekend marked by high-level meetings in a divided West Africa, the summit of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), bringing together Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, resulted in the creation of a "confederation" on Saturday, July 6 in Niamey .

The three presidents officially announced that the peoples of the Sahel had decided to turn a new page by sealing their divorce with ECOWAS.

General Abdourahamane Tiani, President of the CNSP of Niger, expressed his solemn agreement to the creation of the Confederation of Sahel States: " To the officials and foreign ministers who finalized and adopted the draft treaty, it is with real pleasure that I express my solemn agreement to the creation of the Confederation Alliance of Sahel States AES. The formal approval of the treaty establishing the Confederation Alliance of Sahel States AES will thus consecrate the culmination of the aspirations of our populations to seal the foundation of our Sahelian space, a union of States sharing the same challenges and the same ambitions, in a word, the same destiny ."

Last March, the ESA countries created a joint force to combat jihadist groups that regularly threaten their territories. On Saturday, they also expressed their willingness to "pool their resources" in sectors deemed crucial such as agriculture, water, energy and transport, as well as to promote greater use of local languages ​​in their nations' public and private media.

Captain Ibrahim Traore, President of Burkina Faso, spoke on this subject: " We considered it necessary to extend and expand the architecture of the AES. What brings us together today must allow us to move into other areas in addition to defense, including finance, the economy, infrastructure, health and education ."

Agreements on non-aggression security pacts, as well as on economic, monetary and social matters, were signed between Presidents Assimi Goita of Mali, Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso and Abdourahamane Tiani of Niger.

The summit comes on the eve of the ECOWAS summit in Abuja, Nigeria. Mali will take over the rotating presidency of the AES for one year, while Burkina Faso is expected to host the next summit of the organisation's parliamentarians.