Ministers from Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali met in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso capital, to discuss establishing a confederation.
Recall that the three military regimes established a defence and economic pact, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), in September.
While talking about the development, Burkina Faso’s Defence Minister, General Kassoum Coulibaly, said the talks in Ouagadougou were an opportunity to pursue the implementation of “instruments, mechanisms and procedures” and the “legal architecture for the confederation”.
His Niger counterpart, General Salifou Modi, said the procedures will “allow our alliance and the confederation to function efficiently and to the great joy” of the three countries’ populations.
Foreign ministers of the three countries supported the establishment of a confederation as part of a long-term goal of uniting the West African neighbours within a federation, at a meeting which took place in December in the Malian capital Bamako.
Niger’s military leader General Abdourahamane Tiani said recently that the creation of a common currency with Burkina and Mali could be a “way out” of “colonization”.
The latest meeting came weeks after Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali announced their exit from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The three countries were founding members of the regional bloc in 1975 but were suspended after military coups that overthrew elected civilian governments.
The three countries have encountered jihadist violence and military coups since 2020.
Their new military leaders have also accused former colonial power France of instrumentalizing ECOWAS.
They have chased out French ambassadors and forces while turning politically and militarily towards Moscow.
Mali’s Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, said the ECOWAS “withdrawal provides us with an opportunity to achieve real fraternity… without any outside interference or manipulation.”
He added that ECOWAS “has turned away from its main objective of serving the people”.
He said: “Our decision to withdraw is irreversible. ”
