Burkina, Mali, Niger: AES ministers meeting in Ouagadougou to create a confederation
Several ministers from the three countries united within the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) were in Ouagadougou this Thursday, February 15. A meeting a few weeks after Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger announced their withdrawal from ECOWAS. An irrevocable decision, the ministers repeated. The three Sahelian states led by soldiers now want to create a confederation.
Burkinabe Minister of Defense, Colonel Major Kassoum Coulibaly (center), during the meeting of ministers of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), in Ouagadougou, February 15, 2024. He was seated with Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, Minister of State, Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, spokesperson for the government of Mali and General Salifou Mody, Minister of State, Minister of National Defense of Niger . AFP - FANNY NOARO-KABRE
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With this meeting in
Burkina Faso
, the three Sahelian countries are taking a further step in setting up the confederation they want to create. “
Ouagadougou today offers us the opportunity to take a further step in the continued establishment of the instruments, mechanisms and procedures of our alliance, as well as in the legal architecture of the confederation envisaged by our three States,
” declared the Burkinabè Minister of Defense, General Kassoum Coulibaly.
Alongside him, the Burkinabè, Malian and Nigerien ministerial delegations were present. “
This mechanism will allow our alliance and the confederation to function effectively and to the great happiness of our populations
,” said his Nigerien counterpart, General Salifou Modi. This confederation project was already discussed at the beginning of December in Bamako during a meeting of the foreign ministers of the three countries. On Sunday, in an interview on national television, the head of the Nigerien CNSP, General Tiani, also mentioned the possible creation of a common currency.
Also read: Mali-Niger-Burkina: a common currency, at what price?
Mali
, Burkina Faso and
Niger
announced their withdrawal from ECOWAS a few weeks ago
.
Today, in Ouagadougou, the ministers affirmed: this decision is irreversible and irrevocable since the regional organization has, according to them, diverted from its main objective of serving the people. For his part, the Nigerien Minister of Defense once again denounced the sanctions imposed by ECOWAS
on
his country following the July 26 coup.
“The AES is not a credible alternative to ECOWAS
”
In any case, this idea of confederation is not unanimous in the Sahel. Ismaël Sacko, member of the opposition platform Appeal of February 20, which brings together political parties and civil society organizations demanding a return to constitutional order, the AES is a solution for the Sahelian military regimes, but not for populations. “
The creation of this organization was not decided in a referendum and the population was not involved. The AES is not a credible alternative to ECOWAS
,” judges the president of the African Social Democratic Party (PSDA), targeted by a dissolution procedure initiated by the Malian authorities.
The countries that have carried out a coup d'état need to help each other and they will create the necessary legal framework in this sense.
00:52
Ismaël Sacko, member of the opposition platform “Appeal of February 20”
David Bache
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