Foreign Powers Try to Divide Sahel Alliance

(MENAFN) Burkina Faso's interim leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore, has alleged that external forces are actively working to undermine the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) by encouraging its members to turn against one another.

During a national flag-hoisting ceremony on Monday, Traore stated that the AES continues to be a “source of concern” for what he described as imperialist interests, according to the Burkina Faso Information Agency.

“We are approached every day by imperialists who want to force one of the three states to betray the others,” Traore said.

He elaborated that these attempts have been ongoing and are part of a broader scheme aimed at persuading individual countries to abandon the coalition.

“We’ve been dealing with this for a long time. Each time, it’s a maneuver to convince a state to leave the Confederation. And this should make us think,” he added.

The AES was officially created in September 2023 as a collective defense and collaboration agreement between Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.

This alliance was formed after the removal of French forces from each of the participating nations.

Since then, the trio of military-led governments has exited the regional body ECOWAS, accusing it of being a mechanism for French neocolonial control and a threat to their national independence.

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