A meeting of 4 West African leaders was held in Nigeria last Tuesday.

Four countries from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) discussed democratic transitions and security in the region. According to the organization, the leaders notably discussed security in Mali after the withdrawal of the UN mission (Minusma), created in 2013 to support the country threatened by the jihadist push. At the end of June, the UN Security Council ended Minusma's peacekeeping mission at the request of the Malian military junta, which is critical of the West and has drawn closer

Three of ECOWAS's 15 member countries — Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea — are now ruled by military juntas, after a recent series of military coup d'État (five since 2020). At the same time, the jihadist groups Al-Qaeda and ISIS have gained ground in the Sahel, extending their attacks southward, to countries in the Gulf of Guinea. Supported by Niger, Nigeria, Benin and Guinea-Bissau formed a tripartite commission to find alternative security solutions after the withdrawal of the UN mission in Mali, including the possible deployment of soldiers from ECOWAS countries