Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio, who currently chairs the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has begun a two-day working visit to Ouagadougou aimed at reviving dialogue between ECOWAS and the recently formed Confederation of Sahel States (AES). President Bio was received on Tuesday by Burkina Faso’s transitional leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, for bilateral talks, followed by extended sessions between the two countries’ delegations. Discussions are expected to focus on strengthening Sierra Leone–Burkina Faso cooperation in security, trade, and education, while also exploring new strategies to address wider regional and global challenges.
This is Bio’s second official trip to Burkina Faso in just over a year, a sign of ECOWAS’s determination to maintain channels of communication with Sahelian states despite their formal withdrawal from the bloc in January 2025. Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger quit the regional body earlier this year, citing disagreements over sanctions and governance issues, and later deepened their alliance through the Confederation of Sahel States established in 2024.
By engaging directly with Ouagadougou, Bio is seeking to preserve longstanding political and cultural ties while shaping new frameworks of cooperation adapted to the region’s shifting geopolitical realities. Analysts say the outcome of his mission could be a key test of ECOWAS’s ability to balance dialogue with firmness at a time of rising insecurity and changing alliances in West Africa.
