Alliance of Sahel States present unified front in negotiations with ECOWAS

Foreign minister from the Alliance of Sahel States met on Sunday to discuss formalities associated with their exit from the regional bloc, ECOWAS.

Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali are due to withdraw officially from the grouping of West African states on Tuesday 28 January.

At the gathering in Ouagadougou, they agreed to favour a “global approach’ to negotiations and relations with ECOWAS within the framework of the alliance.

The three countries announced their plans to leave the bloc a few months after formalising their own grouping, known by its French acronym, AES.

Ministers said discussions must take into account the existence of the alliance as a united actor to be able to hold talks with ECOWAS in a spirit of peaceful coexistence.

Their relations with the bloc have been tense after military coups took place in Mali in 2020, Burkina Faso in 2022, and Niger last July.

ECOWAS condemned all three of the coups, suspended their membership, and pressed them to restore civilian rule.

But the military leaders failed to oblige, kicked out French troops stationed in their countries, and turned to Russia for help in fighting jihadists waging an insurgency in the region.