Delegations from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger held a gathering on Thursday to create a confederation after their announcement of exiting the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The three army regimes fashioned a protection and financial pact, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), in September.
Burkina’s Defense Minister General Kassoum Coulibaly stated the talks in Ouagadougou have been a possibility to pursue the implementation of “instruments, mechanisms and procedures” and the “legal architecture for the confederation.”
The procedures will “allow our alliance and the confederation to function efficiently and to the great joy” of the three nations’ populations, his Niger counterpart General Salifou Modi stated.
Foreign ministers of the three nations backed the creation of a confederation as a part of a long-term objective of uniting the West African neighbors inside a federation, at a gathering in December within the Malian capital Bamako.
Niger’s army chief General Abdourahamane Tiani stated on Sunday that the creation of a typical foreign money with Burkina and Mali may very well be a “way out” of “colonization.”
The newest assembly comes simply weeks after Burkina, Mali and Niger introduced their exit from ECOWAS.
All three have been founding members of the regional bloc in 1975 however had been suspended following army coups that overthrew elected civilian governments.
The three nations have confronted ongoing terrorist violence and have skilled army coups since 2020.
Their new army leaders have additionally accused former colonial energy France of instrumentalizing ECOWAS.
They have pushed out French ambassadors and forces whereas turning politically and militarily towards Moscow.
The ECOWAS “withdrawal provides us with an opportunity to achieve real fraternity… without any outside interference or manipulation,” stated Mali’s Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga.
Coulibaly added that ECOWAS “has turned away from its main objective of serving the people.”
“Our decision to withdraw is irreversible,” he stated.
Source: www.dailysabah.com