ECOWAS and the Confederation of Sahel States have agreed to establish joint working groups to develop a framework for future cooperation, following ministerial talks in Dakar, Senegal, on Saturday.
Nigeria took part in the October 17 meeting, which brought the regional bloc together with the grouping of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. The agreement sets out a next step for negotiations on relations between the two sides following the Sahel countries’ withdrawal from ECOWAS.
The working groups are to hold technical exchanges on identified areas of cooperation and develop a comprehensive framework agreement. Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the outcome in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Oluwafemi Adeniyi.
Nigeria seeks to revive bilateral commissions
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sola Enikanolaiye said Nigeria was also taking steps to revive its inactive joint commissions with Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. Those commissions are intended to support direct bilateral cooperation, economic integration and security partnerships.
Enikanolaiye identified the movement of people, goods and services, peace and security, terrorism, infrastructure shortages, poverty and food insecurity as shared issues for countries across the two groupings.
From opening talks to working groups
The discussions began on Friday, October 16. An earlier Nigerian statement said the aim was to align ECOWAS members’ positions and seek agreement on a draft framework ahead of the bloc’s end-of-year summit in Abuja in December 2026.
The meeting was attended by the foreign ministers of the three Sahel countries, Senegalese Foreign Minister Cheikh Niang, who chairs the ECOWAS Council of Ministers, and Burkina Faso’s Karamoko Jean-Marie Traoré, coordinator of the AES Council of Ministers.
Sources: Nigeria Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Voice of Nigeria
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