Three West African countries, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, will be launching a new biometric passport "in the coming days” as part of their withdrawal from the wider regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), according to reports.

The three countries announced their plan to leave the bloc in January.

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The three nations formed the Alliance of Sahel States to, among others, boost military co-operation.

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Their leaders criticised Western powers, especially former colonial ruler France, for their role in the insecurity and their economic hand in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. They all expelled French soldiers who were there as part of an anti-jihadist mission.

"In the coming days, a new biometric passport of the [alliance] will be put into circulation with the aim of harmonising travel documents in our common area," Malian leader Col Assimi Goïta said in a televised address on late on Sunday.

Goïta, who is the acting president of the Sahel alliance, said they were also planning to launch a joint service that would promote a "harmonious dissemination of information in our three states”.

The three nations said they wanted to build a community of sovereign peoples based on African values and far from the control of foreign powers.