Burkinabe authorities have formally denied the authenticity of a document attributed to the Confederation of Sahel States (AES), currently circulating on social media, entangling the bloc on the side of Iran against Israel and the United States.
Presented as an official statement and bearing the AES seal, the fake document supposedly signed by Burkinabe junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traoré has gone viral on social media.
It claims that the Sahelian grouping is following with “serious concern” an alleged military aggression by the United States and Israel against Iran with view to taking clear sides in the raging conflict.
This clearly apocryphal text goes so far as to declare that any attack targeting an “allied state” would be considered a direct threat to the strategic interests of the AES, which comprises Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.
The three members of the confederation have strong ties with Iran.
Faced with the spread of this false hypothesis, official communications services of the trio quickly set to work, adding the label “Fake News” to the circulating image to alert the public to its fraudulence.
The authorities reiterate that the confederation’s official positions are disseminated exclusively through government channels and state media in the three member countries.
This disinformation attempt comes amid heightened geopolitical tensions internationally, as the Sahel-Saharan Africa (SAA) works to strengthen its security architecture and assert its regional
sovereignty.
Many observers believe this is a manoeuvre designed to sow confusion about the Sahel-Saharan bloc’s diplomatic stance on the world stage.
HO/te/Sf/fss/as/APA