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.
All three countries are ruled by military juntas after relatively recent coups. The mutual defense treaty was in response to threats by other West Africans nations to invade to reestablish civilian rule in Niger.
BF and Mali already had a defense treaty before Niger but basically for the same reason.