The Economic Community of West African States has turned to one of its most seasoned insiders, former Guinean prime minister Lansana Kouyaté, to lead a high-stakes diplomatic push to repair relations with three breakaway Sahel nations.

Kouyaté, who once served as ECOWAS executive secretary, has been named chief negotiator with Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, the military-ruled states that jointly quit the bloc and formalised their own Alliance of Sahel States, or AES. He confirmed his appointment and mandate to re-establish dialogue with the juntas that have recast the political map of the region.

The choice of Kouyaté underscores the gravity of the rupture. The three AES members, all seized by military officers between 2020 and 2023, have rejected what they see as ECOWAS interference, condemned sanctions imposed after their coups and accused coastal governments of aligning too closely with Western powers.

Since their withdrawal, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have tightened security and political ties with Moscow while distancing themselves from France, whose long military presence in the Sahel has largely ended. Their departure has left ECOWAS facing an unprecedented challenge to its cohesion, territorial integrity and collective security architecture.

An ECOWAS presidency source in Abuja said Kouyaté’s mission is aimed at bringing the peoples of the West African community closer together, signalling that the bloc wants to frame the talks not only as a negotiation with juntas but as an appeal to shared regional identity. A senior official in Sierra Leone, another ECOWAS member, described him as a great diplomat whose long experience in multilateral diplomacy could help rebuild trust.

His appointment follows earlier, unsuccessful mediation attempts. Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye was asked to open channels with the AES leaders, while Ghana’s former president John Dramani Mahama undertook a shuttle tour of the three capitals. Neither effort persuaded the military rulers to reconsider their exit or soften their stance.

The stakes are heightened by the security crisis gripping the Sahel. Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso are all battling entrenched jihadist insurgencies linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, conflicts that have killed thousands, displaced millions and spilled across borders. ECOWAS officials argue that fragmented security cooperation only benefits armed groups.

Kouyaté now faces the delicate task of crafting a formula that could allow the AES states to save face while reopening channels with ECOWAS, in a region where diplomacy, sovereignty and survival are tightly intertwined.