Afripoli

ECOWAS and Sahel states agree to negotiate cooperation framework

19 October 2026

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger agreed in Dakar on 17 October to set up joint working groups to prepare a cooperation agreement. Senegal’s foreign minister, Cheikh Niang, who chairs the ECOWAS Council of Ministers, and Burkina Faso’s foreign minister, Karamoko Jean-Marie Traoré, co-chaired the meeting and signed a joint communiqué. The three military-led states announced their exit from ECOWAS in January 2024; an earlier round of consultations took place in Bamako in May 2025. The talks open a formal channel to protect the trade, free movement and security cooperation that the split put at risk.

Politics · Tags: Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Economic Community of West African States, Alliance of Sahel States

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