AES Holds Anti-Fraud and Financial Security Conference in Ouagadougou

The Alliance of Sahel States (AES) hosted a three-day ministerial conference in Ouagadougou (April 6–8) titled 'Combating fraud in a context of security threats: challenges, system resilience and prospects for action,' opened by Burkina Faso's Minister of Economy, Finance and Foresight. Five panel sessions addressed threat assessment, interagency law enforcement cooperation, cross-border criminal network disruption, financial system resilience, and regional security coordination. The conference reflects the AES's effort to build independent institutional capacity in customs, financial intelligence, and anti-fraud enforcement — critical infrastructure as all three AES states face Western sanctions and diminished access to multilateral financial institutions such as the IMF and World Bank. The AES anti-fraud architecture is also being tied to the new BCID-AES development bank (500 billion CFA francs capital) inaugurated in late 2025.