The foreign ministers of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger recommended on Friday (Dec. 01) creating a confederation as part of a long-term goal of uniting the West African neighbours within a federation.
The top diplomats of the Alliance of Sahel States met in Bamako for two days.
Their discussions aimed to flesh out the workings of the new alliance, with the ministers emphasising the importance of diplomacy, defence and development “to consolidate political and economic integration.”
Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said the recommendations will be submitted to each head of state, who are due to meet in Bamako at an unspecified date.
The countries’ economy and finance ministers who met on late November advised creating a stabilisation fund, an investment bank and a committee that would study an economic and monetary union.
In mid-September, the military leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger signed a mutual defence pact.
The Liptako-Gourma Charter, named after the eponymous historical region, established the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
Niger and Burkina Faso leave G5 Sahel
Burkina Faso and Niger have also followed Mali in announcing they are to withdraw from an international force known as the G5 that was set up to fight Islamists in the Sahel region.
But Chad and Mauritania are still part of the G5 force which is meant to be made up of about 5,000 soldiers.
A statement from the military-led governments of Burkina Faso and Niger was critical of the G5 force for failing to make the Sahel region safer.
It also suggested the anti-terrorist force undermined the two African nations’ desire for greater “independence and dignity” and was serving foreign interests instead. They almost certainly meant France.
Relations with the former colonial power have dramatically deteriorated.
The big question is what impact this will have on the Islamist militant groups that have been growing in strength across the Sahel region.
So far, there is no evidence to suggest that having soldiers in charge of the country makes the population any safer from the threat of these al-Qaeda and IS-linked fighters.
