Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso military leaders sign new pact, rebuff ECOWAS
Al Jazeera
Move is latest sign the countries are moving away from traditional regional and Western allies following spate of coups.
The military leaders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have hailed a newly signed treaty as a step “towards greater integration” between the three countries, in the latest showing of their shift away from traditional regional and Western allies.
During a summit in the Nigerien capital of Niamey on Saturday, the three leaders signed a confederation treaty that aims to strengthen a mutual defence pact announced last year, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
The signing capped the first joint summit of the leaders – Niger’s General Abdourahmane Tchiani, Burkina Faso’s Captain Ibrahim Traore, and Mali’s Colonel Assimi Goita – since they came to power in successive coups in their bordering West African nations.
It also came just months after the three countries withdrew from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc in January.
Speaking at the summit on Saturday, Tchiani called the 50-year-old ECOWAS “a threat to our states”.
