The military regimes in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger say they plan to proceed with the establishment of a confederation, the Malian foreign ministry said on Thursday.
The three countries recently announced that they would withdraw from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). They have now moved to deepen ties via an alliance that threatens regional integration.
The neighbours in the impoverished Sahel region announced in January they would quit the West African bloc – a decision the bloc has urged them to rethink, warning of the additional hardships this withdrawal would bring.
At a meeting in the Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou, their three ministers confirmed a joint commitment to withdraw from ECOWAS without delay and continue cooperation under a pact known as the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
The group has not shared details on how the proposed confederation would work or on how closely they plan to align political, economic and security interests as they struggle to contain a decade-old battle with Islamist insurgents that has destabilised the subregion.
Last November, their finance ministers said they would weigh the option of setting up a monetary union and top officials from all three countries have, to varying degrees, voiced support for abandoning West Africa’s CFA franc common currency.
The juntas have all severed long-standing military ties with former colonial ruler France, dealing a blow to France’s influence in the Sahel and complicating international efforts to fight the militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.
