President John Dramani Mahama has renewed his pledge to deepen relations with Mali with the overall objective of fostering integration in the West African sub-region.
The president, who spoke after meeting with Malian Prime Minister, Abdoulaye Maiga, said a vibrant bilateral relation will go a long way to curb the challenges of insecurity and political instability within the area.
He said the security situation although not novel, kept worsening every day.
“We know what is happening in the geopolitics of our sub-region and the unfortunate situation that is unfolding in the Sahel. It is not anything new, but it continues to become graver than it was in the past”, he said to the visiting head of government.
President Mahama told Prime Minister Maiga, who was in the country to deliver a special message on behalf of the Malian President, Assimi Goita, the security of the sub-region had to be a priority for all states within the area, regardless of political and security affiliations.
“We have noted the sovereign decisions of not only Mali but Burkina Faso and Niger to form a separate confederation,” the president observed. “But despite that, God put us together in this sub-region for a purpose.”
He expressed optimism that the presently fractured region will “be able to integrate ourselves again as one body”.
In July last year, the military-led Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali signed a pact in Niamey, establishing a three-member group dubbed Alliance for Sahel States.
This followed their withdrawals from the regional bloc, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) after being suspended by the organization in response to the military coups in the three countries.
