West Africa bloc appoints mediator to resume Sahel state dialogue

DAKAR: West African states have appointed a mediator to re-establish dialogue with three junta-led countries that left the region’s political and economic ECOWAS bloc last year, AFP learned from the mediator Wednesday.
Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, each led by juntas which came to power between 2020 and 2023, quit the Economic Community of West African States in January 2025, after teaming up to create their own confederation, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
Lansana Kouyate, a former Guinean prime minister and ex-ECOWAS executive-secretary confirmed to AFP that he had been appointed “chief negotiator with the AES countries.”
The trio of junta-led states, having moved closer politically to Moscow, share an anti-imperialist and pro-sovereignty vision and have bitterly criticized west African coastal countries which have remained close to former colonial power France.
The three AES countries have for years been plagued by jihadist insurgencies led by groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
In Abuja, a source within the ECOWAS presidency confirmed Kouyate’s appointment, which is meant to help “toward bringing the peoples of the west African community closer together.”
“Kouyate is a great diplomat. His experience will enable us to build closer ties with our AES brothers. There are common battles to be fought together,” said a source with Sierra Leone’s presidency.
In July 2024 ECOWAS appointed Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye as mediator to bring the Sahelian juntas back into the bloc, but to no avail.
Ghana President John Dramani Mahama toured the three countries in March 2025 in an additional and also unsuccessful attempt to persuade them to return.