Burkina, Guinea, Mali launch lobbying for AU return

Dakar,

The top diplomats of junta-ruled Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali have begun intense lobbying to reinstate their countries into the African Union ahead of the bloc's summit this weekend, Bamako said Thursday.

All three nations have been suspended from the AU and regional grouping, the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), after undergoing military coups since 2020, and cannot participate in this weekend's summit in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.

Nevertheless, foreign ministers Abdoulaye Diop of Mali, Morissanda Kouyate of Guinea and Burkina's Olivia Rouamba have all travelled to Addis Ababa.

They met with Comoran Foreign Minister Dhoihir Dhoulkamal, whose country will hold the AU's rotating presidency, the Malian foreign ministry said on Facebook.

Diop also held meetings with Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde and his Rwandan and Algerian counterparts, the ministry added.

The ministry did not specify the day of the meeting with Dhoulkamal, but said the visit was part of the three countries' joint efforts to lift their suspensions from the AU and Ecowas.

It said the suspensions hindered regional and international support for the transitions back to civilian rule underway in the three Sahel nations.

The three ministers had announced their joint diplomatic campaign last week in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou.

The Malian foreign ministry said the joint delegation would continue their consultations with Comoran President Azali Assoumani, AU Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat, a senior ECOWAS official and other foreign ministers.