Speaking at the opening of a summit between Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso in Niamey, Niger's General Abdourahamane Tiani said the people of the three Sahel nations have “irrevocably turned their backs” on West African regional bloc ECOWAS. Relations between the three countries – which have all undergone coups installing military strongmen in recent years – and ECOWAS deteriorated after the July 2023 coup d’état which brought Tiani to power in Niger.
