By Cross Udo, Abuja
Ghana’s President, John Mahama, has declared that the Alliance for Sahel States (AES) issue is complicated but assured that they will continue to dialogue with the aggrieved leaders.
Mahama was in Nigeria yesterday to brief President Bola Tinubu, the Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Heads of State and Government, on the efforts to bring back the Sahel States to the West African regional body.
Alliance for the Sahel States is a confederation formed by Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso following their breakaway from ECOWAS after military coups.
Recall that on September 16 2023, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso announced the creation of Alliance for Sahel States, a defence pact to back up Niger over the threat by the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government under the leadership of President Tinubu, to use military might to restore democratic government following the coup in the country.
Speaking at the meeting with President Tinubu in Abuja, Mahama said, “I came to thank him (Tinubu) for the honour done me during my inauguration but also to brief him on the visits to the Sahealean countries Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger and to bring him up to date with some of the issues and to discuss with him.
“As ECOWAS chairman, I must brief him on some of the concerns raised there so that we continue to dialogue with those other countries.”
Asked if there was any good news from the aggrieved countries, the Ghanaian President said, “Well, it is a complicated situation, and it is not as easy as we think. We just need to continue to dialogue and see how we can continue to dialogue together.”
For his part, Tinubu said, “I feel good that he (President Mahama) is here in the first place. I am indeed very happy with the efforts he has made to build a bridge between the AES countries and ECOWAS.
“It is not a bad idea for us because of the security situation in the Sahel region and the economic opportunity that we must embark on to ensure the security of lives and prosperity of our citizens.
“The innocent people in this episode are the citizens of those countries, but there is not much about us or the leadership. The citizens must be the first beneficiary and the first point of reasons together.”
