Shoot down aircraft like Nigeria’s straying into your airspace – AES charges members
The Confederation of Sahel States (AES) has urged its members to ‘neutralise” any aircraft that strays into member-state airspace.
The AES members — Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger — broke away from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) over its rejection of military coup d’etat in those countries. On Monday, Burkina Faso said a Nigerian fighter jet entered into its airspace illegally, a reason for which it forced the aircraft to land. The aircraft and 11 on-crew members are currently being detained in the Sahel country.
In a statement signed by Assimi Goita, the Mali junta leader, AES said an aircraft belonging to the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) was forced to land on Monday in Bobo Dioulasso, following an “emergency situation in flight” while it was operating in the country’s airspace.
It also reads: “The Confederation of the Sahel States most strongly condemns this violation of its airspace and the sovereignty of its member states.
“Faced with this unfriendly act carried out in defiance of international law and international civil and/or military aviation rules, arrangements are made to guarantee the security of the Confederal airspace, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its Member States, as well as the safety of the Populations of the Confederation AES.
“In this regard, and on the instructions of the Heads of State, the Arian and anti-aircraft defences of the Confederal space put on maximum alert, in accordance with the Declaration of the College of Heads of State dated December 22, 2024, were authorised to neutralise any aircraft that would violate the confederal space.”
“In this regard, and on the instructions of the Heads of State, the Arian and anti-aircraft defences of the Confederal space put on maximum alert, in accordance with the Declaration of the College of Heads of State dated December 22, 2024, were authorised to neutralise any aircraft that would violate the confederal space,” the AES statement, signed late Monday by Assimi Goita, Mali junta leader, reads.
Goita called the said intrusion an “unfriendly act carried out in defiance of international law”, adding that arrangements were being made to guarantee the security of the confederal airspace.
