ECOWAS and Sahel alliance set up talks on cooperation after withdrawal
ECOWAS and the Alliance of Sahel States agreed in Dakar to establish joint working groups towards a cooperation framework. Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger seek new relations rather than negotiations over rejoining. The agenda covers movement of people and goods, trade and counterterrorism, with technical results destined for ministers before another formal session.
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Joint groups prepare a cooperation agreement
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the regional economic organisation, and the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), the grouping of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, agreed in Dakar, Senegal’s capital, to establish joint working groups. Their 17 October talks concerned relations after the three countries’ withdrawal from ECOWAS. The groups are intended to prepare a cooperation framework through technical exchanges on shared interests.[1], [2]
Burkina Faso’s Foreign Minister Karamoko Jean-Marie Traoré read the joint communiqué after the formal negotiations. It provides for the working groups’ results to reach ministers before their next session. Traoré headed the Sahel delegation and also chairs its ministerial steering committee. Senegalese Foreign Minister Cheikh Niang led the ECOWAS delegation in his additional role as chair of its Council of Ministers.[2]
The agenda turns to movement and trade
Free movement of people and goods, trade and counterterrorism are among the working groups’ subjects. Their task includes new institutional and legal arrangements governing relations between the organisations. Expert discussions were scheduled to continue on 18 October. Traoré said the meeting aimed to formalise new relations, rather than negotiate the three countries’ return to ECOWAS, from which they announced their withdrawal in January 2024.[1]
ECOWAS chief negotiator Lansana Kouyaté, a former Guinean prime minister, left open the possibility of a future return but said it could not be demanded now. He described the talks as a way to maintain cooperation and avoid confrontation. Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said the Sahel alliance was approaching the negotiations with openness, constructive engagement and responsibility.[1]
Ministers set out principles for further negotiations
The delegations’ communiqué names good neighbourliness, respect for sovereignty, human dignity and the wellbeing of West African populations as principles for the relationship. They expressed a wish for a balanced, realistic framework protecting their countries’ interests. The document also recalls historical, social, cultural and economic ties between their populations and describes the discussions as marked by mutual respect and openness.[2]
Dakar’s ministerial encounter followed consultations in Bamako, Mali’s capital, on 22 May 2025, after which exchanges began on common interests. The next formal negotiating session’s place and date are to be settled through diplomatic consultations, according to the communiqué. A signed cooperation framework remains the stated objective of the technical and ministerial process.[2]
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