In September of last year, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) with the primary goal of improving their collective security measures and promoting socioeconomic development for their populations. In May, the nations endorsed a preliminary agreement outlining the establishment of a confederation.
In a development that could signal the irrevocable death knell of ECOWAS, on Saturday, July 5, at the inaugural summit of the heads of state and governments of the AES, held in Niamey, the capital of Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger signed a charter establishing the confederation of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) which is aimed at addressing their shared challenges and developing coordinated collective solutions
The three leaders — Colonel Assimi Goita of Mali, Captain Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso, and General Abdourahamane Tiani of Niger — also established an investment bank and a stabilization fund for the confederation. An initiative which ECOWAS has failed at over the entirety of its existence.
Aside from that, Niger’s leader reportedly said on Saturday that people of the AES have “irrevocably turned away from ECOWAS.” He further called for turning the bloc into “an alternative to any sham regional organization by creating a sovereign community of peoples not under the domination of foreign powers.”
On January 28, the AES states announced their withdrawal from ECOWAS, citing the organization’s ineffectiveness in combating terrorism. They also called the bloc a “threat” to its member states and slammed it for imposing “illegal, illegitimate, inhumane, and irresponsible” sanctions on the three countries after the military took power in them.
This story was adapted bt rnn.org.ng from https://en.sputniknews.africa/20240706/burkina-faso-mali-and-niger-unite-into-confederation-1067405161.html?