Coups: Mahama Briefs Tinubu On Visit To Burkina, Mali, Niger
Ghanaian President John Mahama, on Thursday, visited his Nigerian counterpart, Bola Tinubu, at the State House in Abuja.
The visit, the first since his inauguration on January 7, is to brief Tinubu—who also doubles as the Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government—on his recent visits to Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.
Briefing journalists, the Ghanaian leader said he was in Nigeria to keep Tinubu updated on diplomatic efforts with the military junta leaders of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, aimed at addressing regional security and stability.
Mahama acknowledged the complexities of the regional issue but assured that with continued constructive dialogue, all pending issues between the Alliance of Sahel States and the Economic Community of West African States will be resolved.
“I came to thank him for the honour done to me during my inauguration, but also to brief him on the visits to the Sahelian countries of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, to bring him up to date with some of the issues, and to discuss them with him.
As ECOWAS chairman, it’s my duty to come and brief him on some of the concerns that were raised there so that we continue to dialogue with those other countries.
“Well, it’s a complicated situation, and it’s not as easy as we think. We just need to continue to dialogue and see how we can continue to dialogue together,” Mahama stated.
Responding, Tinubu said his talks with the three Alliance of Sahel States (AES by its French acronym) were essential to safeguarding lives and fostering prosperity across the region.
“I feel fortunate that he is here in the first place. I am indeed pleased with the efforts he has made to have a bridge between the AES countries and the ECOWAS. It’s a good idea for us due to the security situation in the Sahel region and the economic opportunities we must pursue to ensure the safety of lives and prosperity for our citizens,” Tinubu said.
“The innocent people in this episode are the citizens of those countries, not much about us, the leadership. The citizens must be the first beneficiaries and the first point of reasons together.”
Relations between ECOWAS and the three Sahel countries have been tense since the military took power in Niger in 2023, Burkina Faso in 2022, and Mali in 2020.
After the Niger coup, ECOWAS imposed crippling sanctions on the country, such as border closures, a no-fly zone for all commercial flights, and the freezing of central bank assets. Negotiations between Ecowas and the juntas have taken place since then — but have failed.