Burkina Faso and Mali did not send representatives to a continental military meeting hosted by Nigeria on Monday amid tense relations between the two Sahel countries and their neighbours.

Along with Niger – also under military rule – Mali and Burkina Faso withdrew from regional bloc ECOWAS in January 2025, after forming their own Alliance of Sahel States (AES) to combat long-running insurgencies.

Niger, represented by defence attache at the embassy Colonel Major Soumana Kalkoye, was the only AES country at the African defence chiefs of staff talks, hosted in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

Billed by Nigerian authorities as the first such high-level Pan-African meeting hosted on the continent, the conference drew high ranking officers from Djibouti to Namibia for "discussions on collective strategies" and to find "homegrown solutions to Africa's defence needs", according to its programming.

Security challenges 'recognise no borders'

Speaking of security challenges that "recognise no borders", Nigerian Chief of the Defence Staff Christopher Musa called for "a new architecture of African-led security cooperation."

"True security is not achieved in isolation," Musa told officers gathered for the talks, set to run through Wednesday.

Niger and Nigeria have at times faced their own setbacks in military cooperation in the fight against Boko Haram and other terrorist groups.