Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have founded a new confederation aimed at strengthening a joint defence pact launched last year, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), according to an announcement at the end of a summit in Niamey on Saturday. The group of states, which are all ruled by military juntas, plans to coordinate more closely on foreign and security policy, regulate the free movement of people and goods and establish a joint investment bank, according to the statement. Mali’s leader Colonel Assimi Goïta, Niger’s leader General Abdourahamane Tchiani and Burkina Faso’s leader Captain Ibrahim …