During a summit in the Nigerien capital of Niamey on July 6 2024, the three leaders signed a confederation treaty that aims to strengthen a mutual defence pact announced last year, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
Agreements on security non-aggression pacts, as well as economic, monetary, and social domains, were signed by Presidents Assimi Goïta of Mali, Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso, and Abdourahamane Tchiani of Niger.
General Abdourahamane Tchiani of Niger called the AES summit a step toward reclaiming sovereignty, formalizing a confederation with Mali and Burkina Faso, and rejecting ECOWAS.
“We are going to create an AES of the people instead of an ECOWAS whose directives and instructions are dictated to it by powers that are foreign to Africa,” Tchiani said.
“Westerners consider that we belong to them and our wealth also belongs to them. They think that they are the ones who must continue to tell us what is good for our states,” Burkina Faso's Traoré said
