Military junta leaders of the three countries met for their first summit in Niamey, the capital of Niger, after their withdrawal from the West Africa bloc known as ECOWAS in January.

   They accused the bloc of failing its mandate and pledged to consolidate their union -the Alliance of Sahel States (AES)- created last year amid fractured relations with neighbors.

   The nearly 50-year-old ECOWAS has become “a threat to our states,” Niger’s military leader General Abdourahmane Tchiani said.

   “We are going to create an AES of the peoples, instead of an ECOWAS whose directives and instructions are dictated to it by powers that are foreign to Africa,” Tchiani said.

   The meeting of the three countries that border one another comes a day before an ECOWAS summit in Nigeria where other heads of state in the region are to meet.

   “It’s up to us today to make the confederation alliance of Sahelian states an alternative to all bogus regional groupings, by building a sovereign community of people,” Tchiani said.

   Analysts say the two meetings show the deep division in ECOWAS, which has emerged as the top political authority for its 15 member states before the unprecedented decision of the three countries to withdraw their membership.

   Agreements on security non-aggression pacts, as well as economic, monetary, and social domains, were signed by Presidents Assimi Goita of Mali, Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso, and Abdourahamane Tiani of Niger.

   Mali will hold the rotating presidency of the AES for one year, while Burkina Faso will host the organization’s parliamentary summit.