Foreign ministers of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), which groups Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, on Friday set three priorities in Ouagadougou for their negotiations with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), due in Dakar on October 17 and 18: preserving the sovereignty of member states, consolidating the confederation and protecting the interests of its people.
According to the Burkinabe daily Sidwaya, the confederation's ministerial steering committee, bringing together ministers Karamoko Jean Marie Traoré, Abdoulaye Diop and Bakary Yaou Sangaré, met to align positions before the first formal consultations between the two blocs since the three countries left ECOWAS. The ministers said the Dakar talks aim to produce new institutional and legal arrangements.
The ministers said the vision of the confederation's heads of state is guided by their people's aspirations, particularly the free movement of people and goods, and that the talks will rest on the unity of the AES, respect for its members' sovereignty, the primacy of their people's interests and the conviction that Africans can solve their own problems.
The ministerial meeting followed talks by experts of the confederation's negotiating task force in Ouagadougou on October 14 to identify priority areas, including free movement, trade and diplomatic and institutional questions, according to the head of the Malian delegation, Ambassador Amadou Maïga.
Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger formally left ECOWAS on January 29, 2025, after forming their alliance in 2023. The Dakar talks come as the three countries seek to consolidate their political and institutional autonomy and define their future relations with the rest of West Africa.
