SAHEL CONFEDERATION TAKING SHAPE

Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger are moving forward with plans for a Sahelian confederation following a meeting in the Burkinabé capital, Ouagadougou. This comes after they formed a mutual defence and economic pact in September called the Alliance of Sahel States. Then, last month, they announced their collective withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The three Sahelian states see the new alliance as a way to increase the region's autonomy and prosperity outside of colonial parameters most African countries continue to abide by.

The states have accused ECOWAS of being a proxy for foreign interests. Some have accused the regional body of dragging its feet on security matters, with the 5,900-kilometre-long Sahelian region accounting for 35 per cent of worldwide terrorism deaths in 2021. Further, when a widely popular coup overthrew Niger's Western-favoured president, Mohamed Bazoum, ECOWAS was quick to take action, including imposing sanctions, denying electricity, closing borders, banning regional bank transactions, and threatening invasion. Meanwhile, some have accused ECOWAS of duplicity, as it has not equally condemned recent civilian coups in Guinea-Bissau and Senegal.

The new Alliance of Sahel States is, in many ways, already operating. Military coordination has helped recover territory so-called rebels had used to conduct cross-border attacks. Meanwhile, Burkina Faso and Mali are constructing gold refineries, with Mali's set to be West Africa's largest ever. It is expected to produce 200 tonnes of gold annually. Niger is revisiting its mining concessions, while a pipeline linking Niger oilfields to international markets has been hooked up. The International Monetary Fund projects a positive outlook for all three states, with economists saying Niger could experience as much as an 11 per cent GDP growth.