Captain Ibrahim Traoré, President of Burkina Faso, has accused foreign powers of attempting to destabilise the Confederation of Sahel States (CSS) by pressuring one of its members to turn against the others.
Speaking on Monday, during a solemn flag-raising ceremony at the presidential palace in Ouagadougou, where the CSS anthem was sung publicly for the first time, Traoré warned of ongoing efforts to fracture the tripartite alliance between Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.
We are approached every day by imperialists who want to force one of the three states to betray the others,” Traoré declared, characterising the overtures as part of a broader strategy to sabotage the unity and sovereignty of the CSS.
Recall that the Confederation of Sahel States establishment on September 2023 marks a bold departure from traditional alliances and foreign partnerships.
Rejecting what they describe as neo-colonial domination, the member states have united around shared goals of regional security, resource sovereignty, and development.
The Burkinabe president emphasised that the CSS’s challenge to the existing international order has provoked discomfort among certain foreign powers.
The Confederation of Sahel States still bothers some, or bothers some, he said pointedly, indicating that pressure from external actors is intensifying.
Traoré reiterated the CSS’s mission to become a zone of “total security,” where natural resources are “properly exploited” and the benefits are returned directly to the people. “Our country is rich… And it is this wealth that is coveted,” he said.
He called on citizens to resist foreign manipulation, work diligently, and unite to pursue national and regional development.
We can leave this situation of underdevelopment and very quickly become an emerging country. All we have to do is work. Everyone has to do it, he stated.
The symbolic inauguration of the CSS anthem marked a key step in building a shared confederal identity, aiming to rally public support for the alliance and reinforce the commitment to autonomy and cooperation.
The Sahel will not remain poor. We will continue to build the AES so that it is strong and resilient, Traoré concluded.
