Junta-led Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have concluded plans to form a confederation after aggressively kicking out former colonial ruler France to seek closer ties with Russia.
Africa Today News, New York gathered that their foreign ministers had on Friday held a meeting in Niger’s capital Niamey to agree on a text establishing the Confederation of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
“The objective was to finalise the draft text relating to the institutionalisation and operationalisation of the Confederation of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES)”, said Niger Foreign Minister Bakary Yaou Sangare as he read the final statement late Friday.
He said the text would be adopted by the heads of state of the three countries at a summit, without specifying the date.
“We can consider very clearly, today, that the Confederation of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) has been born,” Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said after meeting General Abdourahamane Tiani, the head of Nigerien military regime.
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The third foreign minister at the meeting was Burkina Faso’s Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore.
The Sahel region has been subject to deadly jihadist violence for years, which they accused France of not being able to curb.
The three countries said late January they were quitting The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which they said was under French influence, to create their own regional grouping.
In another report, experts from ECOWAS member states held a meeting in Lomé, Togo, precisely between May 6 and 8, 2024, to examine in detail, the draft supplementary Act relating to cooperation in suppressing illicit maritime activities in the ECOWAS region.
In order to guarantee that comprehensive, accurate, and trustworthy records of the operations of ECOWAS institutions and specialised agencies are made, received, retained, accessed, and disposed of in a standard and authorised manner, a framework for accountability is to be established by the draft supplemental Act.
At the meeting, participants gained a better understanding of the records management policy and manual, increased awareness of the asset management policy and its application, and prepared themselves for management approval of the validated asset management policy and manual.