Military leaders from the three countries are deepening their defensive partnership with a political, economic and military cooperation treaty
7 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The military leaders of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali have concluded their first summit in the Nigerien capital, Niamey, by signing a treaty marking the birth of the so-called Confederation of the Alliance of Sahel States, a political, military and economic alliance between three countries united by the rule of a military junta that emerged following a coup d’état and their distancing from regional bodies and the West in favour of Russia.
The signatories — Nigerien General Abdourahmane Tiani, Burkinabe Captain Ibrahim Traoré and Malian Colonel Assimi Goita — “decide to move towards greater integration between the member states of the Alliance of Sahel States in order to establish a confederation” with the primary objective of facilitating the “free movement of people, goods and services,” strengthening military cooperation and the possible creation of a regional central bank and currency.
Africa thus becomes the scene of the emergence of a new bloc of countries whose leaders ratify with this treaty their “irrevocable” decision to break with the corresponding regional organization, in this case the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, whose heads of state and government meet precisely that same Sunday in Abuja (Nigeria) to discuss this event.
In this regard, the three military leaders, in their final statement of the meeting, have once again denounced the sanctions imposed by ECOWAS and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) after their respective uprisings, condemning “the harmful impact of illegal, illegitimate practices and inhuman acts and threats of aggression” against their “sovereign States.”
The statement places particular emphasis on the fight against regional terrorism, a phenomenon fuelled, it claims, by “obscurantist, instrumentalised and remotely controlled” groups. In response, one of the major concrete measures announced late on Saturday is the creation of the so-called Joint Force of the Sahel States, a military force that will combine troops from these three countries to fight armed groups in the region.
For Goita, “the security dimension, which initially motivated the creation of the AES, is now fully addressed by the various Defense and Security Forces (FDS) of the Alliance, which will act in perfect complementarity to confront terrorist attacks and will adopt an offensive posture to neutralize these lawless groups.”
From now on, economic and political aspects discussed in previous meetings by the Ministers of Economy and Foreign Affairs of these three countries remain pending, such as the creation of a joint investment bank and a stabilization fund, but whatever happens, the three leaders interpret the Niamey meeting as the birth of a “strategic framework from which resolutions will emerge that will set the course for the return of peace, the establishment of security, the implementation and strengthening of common development actions for the happiness of the peoples of the Sahel.”
“This is a solemn and historic occasion,” said Nigerien General Tiani, “because it is an important step in consolidating ties between the peoples of the Sahelian area and represents the culmination of our fierce common will to regain our sovereignty and rehabilitate our legendary dignity.”
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