The warning followed Monday’s incident involving a Nigerian Air Force C-130 aircraft which made an emergency landing in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.

By Titilope Adako

The Confederation of the States of the Sahel (AES) has warned that its forces will shoot down any aircraft, including Nigerian military planes, that enter its airspace without clearance.

The warning followed Monday’s incident involving a Nigerian Air Force C-130 aircraft which made an emergency landing in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.

In a communiqué issued in Bamako and signed by Mali’s transitional leader and AES President, Gen. Assimi Goïta, the bloc said the aircraft, carrying two crew members and nine military passengers, flew into Burkinabe airspace without authorisation.

Gen. Goïta stated that the Heads of State of the confederation had ordered heightened military vigilance across the region.

He said, “The air and anti-air defences of the confederal space have been placed on maximum alert.”

He added that AES forces had been “authorised to neutralise any aircraft that violates confederal airspace,” in line with an earlier declaration made on 22 December 2024.

The communiqué noted that Burkinabe authorities launched an investigation immediately after the aircraft landed and confirmed that the Nigerian plane had no approval to fly over the territory.

AES condemned the incident and described it as “a violation of its airspace and of the sovereignty of its member states,” calling it “an unfriendly act carried out in disregard of international law and international civil and/or military aviation rules.”

The bloc stated that it had activated several security measures in response.

It said, “Measures have been taken to ensure 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 AES Confederation.”

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