Confederation of Sahel States (AES): Senior Officials Meet in Ouagadougou Ahead of Foreign Ministers' Meeting

Ouagadougou, November 24, 2025 - Senior officials from the Confederation of Sahel States (AES) are convening in Ouagadougou on November 24-25, 2025, to prepare for the Confederation's Foreign Ministers' Meeting, scheduled for November 26 in the Burkinabe capital. The meeting opened this morning with delegations of experts from Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. These senior officials, specializing in the AES’s three pillars - diplomacy, defense and security, and development - are tasked with establishing the technical, political, and diplomatic groundwork for the confederation. Their findings will be submitted to the Foreign Ministers for review ahead of the second session of the AES College of Heads of State. The head of the Burkinabe delegation, Ambassador Secretary-General Yirigouin Hermann Toe, emphasized that the preparatory meeting aims to harmonize diplomatic positions so that the AES can speak with one coherent and strong voice on regional and international matters.

During the meeting, experts are reviewing achievements since the first session of the College of Heads of State and assessing the implementation of the roadmap under the Malian presidency.

For Ambassador Mahamane Amadou Maïga, head of the Malian delegation, the objective is to identify ways to consolidate peace and fraternity among the three peoples and strengthen the Confederation’s sovereignty internationally.

According to Ambassador Ousmane Alhassane, head of the Nigerien delegation, several reports and draft documents will be examined and finalized, including:

The draft additional protocol regarding the Confederation's pillars and the confederal sessions of parliaments;

The draft rules of procedure for the confederal sessions of the Council of Ministers;

The draft working document for the upcoming session of Foreign Ministers.

The outcomes of this 48-hour preparatory meeting will be presented to the Foreign Ministers of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger on November 26, ahead of the second session of the AES College of Heads of State, planned for December 2025.