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The three nations held the summit just before the upcoming West African body meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, which started on Saturday 6 July 2024. Mali will hold the rotating presidency of the AES for one year, while Burkina Faso will host the organization’s parliamentary summit.
The coup-hit nations in the Sahel region, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso, ruled out returning to the West Africa regional bloc whose division could further jeopardize regional efforts to curb the violence spreading across the region. Military junta leaders of the three countries met for their first summit in Niamey, the capital of Niger, after their withdrawal from the West Africa bloc known as ECOWAS in January.
They accused the bloc of failing its mandate and pledged to consolidate their union – the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) — created last year amid fractured relations with neighbors. The nearly 50-year-old ECOWAS has become “a threat to our states,” Niger’s military leader General Abdourahmane Tchiani said.
The three nations held the summit just before the upcoming West African body meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, which started on Saturday 6 July 2024. Mali will hold the rotating presidency of the AES for one year, while Burkina Faso will host the organization’s parliamentary summit.
Analysts say the two meetings, which had taken place back to back show the deep division in ECOWAS, which has emerged as the top political authority for its 15 member states before the unprecedented decision of the three countries to withdraw their membership.
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Agreements on security non-aggression pacts, as well as economic, monetary, and social domains, were signed by Presidents Assimi Goita of Mali, Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso, and Abdourahamane Tiani of Niger.
