Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said on Thursday his availability to work so that he has ‘ranges of convergence’ between ECOWAS and the AES countries which have announced their departure from the sub-regional institution at the start of the year.
‘At the ECOWAS level, we see today that the doors to dialogue are certainly closed, but we should not close the windows and draw the curtains either; that we must leave spaces (…) Arguing if necessary, but emptying what is in us’, affirmed Thursday evening in Ouagadougou, President Faye at the end of a short stay with his Burkinabè counterpart Ibrahim Traore.
President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who arrived from Mali, displayed his ‘readiness to work on both sides, so that he has areas of convergence’ which ‘still allow us to discuss what is not working and to see how to change what is not working.
As a reminder, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, now forming the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), announced their departure from ECOWAS, at the end of January 2024, t
o protest against the non-assistance of the institution in the fight against terrorism and its subjugation to foreign powers.
According to ECOWAS, these exits will only be effective at the end of January 2025 if these three countries do not withdraw.
President Bassirou Diomaye Faye elected in March 2024, who calls for profound reforms of ECOWAS and the currency, has promised to do everything possible to bring the AES back into the sub-regional organization.
‘We have the historical responsibility and the legacy of our founding fathers to fight within ECOWAS and together to ensure that ECOWAS remains what it should never have ceased to be. Namely an integration body which has been cited as an example that we must perpetuate, which we must strengthen, and which we must protect against all attempts to divert ECOWAS from its objective of African integration and its nature, namely the ECOWAS of the peoples,’ concluded Mr. Faye.
Source: Burkina Information Agency