Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have taken another step towards further integration by signing a new defense treaty, which aims to strengthen a mutual defense pact known as the Alliance of Sahel States, or AES.

Military leaders from each country stressed their disapproval of ECOWAS, displaying their shift away from traditional Western-backed economic alliances. Niger’s military leader, General Tchiani, said that ECOWAS has become “a threat to our states.”

This was the first joint meeting between all three leaders- Niger’s General Tchiani, Burkina Faso’s Captain Ibrahim Traore, and Mali’s Colonel Assimi Goita since they all rose to power. 

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