The foreign ministers of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger will visit Moscow this week as the Sahel nations and Russia seek to strengthen ties, the three African countries' foreign ministries said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
Heads of state of Mali's Assimi Goita, Burkina Faso's Captain Ibrahim Traore and Niger's General Abdourahamane Tiani walk together during the first ordinary summit of heads of state and governments of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) in Niamey, Niger July 6, 2024. Reuters/Mahamadou Hamidou
The foreign ministers of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger will visit Moscow this week as the Sahel nations and Russia seek to strengthen ties, the three African countries' foreign ministries said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
The West African nations, run by juntas that have taken power in coups in recent years, have formed an alliance known as the Confederation of Sahel States (AES). The grouping kicked out French and other Western forces and turned towards Russia for military support.
Their foreign ministers will visit Moscow on April 3 and 4 and hold meetings with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at his invitation, the statement said.
"The Moscow meeting represents an important step in establishing strategic, pragmatic, dynamic and supportive cooperation and partnership relations in areas of common interest between the AES and Russia," the ministries said.
It referred to this week's visit as the first session of "AES-Russia consultations".
The three countries' armies are fighting a jihadist insurgency that has spread across the region south of the Sahara since it first took root in Mali 13 years ago.
By Fadimata Kontao
An attack on a military base in northern Burkina Faso killed multiple soldiers, while a separate assault in the south left dozens of civilians dead, sources told Reuters on Monday, underscoring spiralling insecurity in the junta-led country.
The U.S. and China said on Monday they agreed to temporarily slash their steep tariffs on each other, sending global stocks and the U.S. dollar surging as the world's top two economies tapped the brakes on a trade war that had fed fears of a global recession.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday reported "substantial progress" in U.S. talks with China's top economic officials to de-escalate a damaging trade war, but offered no details of an agreement reached as two days of negotiations wrapped up in Geneva.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.