Nigerien Prime Minister, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, encouraged members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to join the AES.
He made this appeal in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, during the Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank.
"I can't be too provocative, but I want to ask ECOWAS to join the AES. There are ECOWAS countries that would probably want to join the AES because the culture of sovereignty and dignity of the continent exists within the AES," Zeine said.
This comes after Ghana and Nigeria urged Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye to encourage the return of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso to ECOWAS during this week's visit to Ouagadougou and Bamako.
Last week, Nigerian media reported that the ECOWAS Parliament intends to form an ad hoc mediation committee aimed at reuniting Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso with the organization.
In late January, the AES states announced their withdrawal from ECOWAS, citing the organization's ineffectiveness in combating terrorism. They also called the bloc a "threat" to its member states and slammed it for imposing "illegal, illegitimate, inhumane, and irresponsible" sanctions on the three countries after the military took power in them.