Foreign ministers of the Sahel Alliance (Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso) held talks with African Union Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf in New York on the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly, focusing on ways to strengthen cooperation in the fight against terrorism.
The ministers stressed that AU decisions should be rooted in field realities rather than “abstract principles,” voicing concern over the lack of tangible international support and pointing to foreign interventions as a key factor fueling ongoing terrorist threats.
In response, the AU Commission chair acknowledged these concerns, pledging to align the AU’s policies with the actual national contexts of Sahel Alliance members and vowing to avoid isolating them while maintaining support.
Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso established the “Alliance of Sahel States” in September 2023 as a joint defense framework, followed by their collective withdrawal from ECOWAS.
