A West African leaders’ summit yesterday opened amid political turmoil after the military rulers of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso cemented a breakaway union at a rival meeting.
The three countries announced they were forming a new confederation, and their defiant first gathering on the eve of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) summit marked another test for the regional bloc they split away from earlier this year.
ECOWAS is already wrestling with sweeping militant violence, financial trouble and the challenges of mustering a regional force.
Photo: EPA-EFE
It was not clear how the weakened bloc would respond after Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso adopted a treaty establishing a “Confederation of Sahel States” in Niamey on Saturday.
The juntas in those three countries came to power in a series of coups over the past few years and announced their joint departure from ECOWAS in January.
They have shifted away from former colonial ruler France and expelled French troops, with Niger’s General Abdourahamane Tiani, president of the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland, calling for the establishment of a “community far removed from the stranglehold of foreign powers.”
“Our people have irrevocably turned their backs on ECOWAS,” Tiani said on Saturday, rebuffing the bloc’s pleas to return to the fold.
The Sahel countries’ ECOWAS exit was partly fueled by their accusation that Paris was manipulating the bloc and not providing enough support in combatting militants.
Yesterday’s summit in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, comes after several West African presidents called for the resumption of dialogue.
It was to be the first such meeting for new Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who last month said that reconciliation was possible.
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