BAMAKO, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger will introduce new biometric passports as part of their withdrawal from a West African bloc in favour of a new Sahel alliance after military leaders seized power in all three countries, Mali's leader said on Sunday.

The three junta-led Sahel neighbours jointly announced in January they would leave the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which has sought to persuade them to reconsider their decision.

Burkina Faso announced earlier this month that it was rolling out new passports without the ECOWAS logo.

"In the coming days, a new biometric passport of the AES (Alliance of Sahel States) will be put into circulation with the aim of harmonising travel documents in our common area and facilitating the mobility of our citizens throughout the world", Malian junta leader Assimi Goita announced on Sunday evening.

He spoke ahead of a meeting Monday between the three countries' foreign ministers on the anniversary of the decision to form their own alliance. Goita also said they were planning to launch a shared information channel "in order to promote a harmonious dissemination of information in our three states."

ECOWAS has warned that the three countries' withdrawal would undermine the freedom of movement and common market of the 400 million people living in the 49-year-old bloc.

Their departure comes as their armies battle groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State, whose insurgencies have destabilised the region over the past decade and threaten to spill over into coastal West African states.

  • CarmineCatboy2 [he/him]
    ·
    2 months ago

    At first I considered that it would be very difficult to arrange the Sahel Allies into a single country, given that all three are operating via an interim military government and any sort of unification would require unifying said military hierarchies. But then I took a short look at the wikipedia page and then

    On 6 July 2024, the military leaders at a summit in Niamey, Niger, signed a confederation treaty to strengthen the existing mutual defense pact. The signing marked the conclusion of the first joint summit of the alliance.[19] Two significant outcomes of the summit were:

    1. The naming of Colonel Assimi Goita, head of state of Mali, as president of the new confederation, for a period of one year.
    1. The 25 point AES communique of Saturday, July 6th 2024.

    There's a long way between confederation and federation, but if they can agree to let Mali preside over the confederation for a year then maybe they can agree to something more binding in the future.

    • asante [comrade/them]
      ·
      2 months ago

      At first I considered that it would be very difficult to arrange the Sahel Allies into a single country, given that all three are operating via an interim military government and any sort of unification would require unifying said military hierarchies.

      that's what i thought too. not a good idea in the short-term when it comes to unifying state structures like that

      There's a long way between confederation and federation, but if they can agree to let Mali preside over the confederation for a year then maybe they can agree to something more binding in the future.

      yeah they're making more progress than other unification projects i've seen (eg East African Federation) and that's great!