JUNTA-LED Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger plan to proceed with the establishment of a confederation, the Malian foreign ministry said, as the three countries deepen ties via an alliance that threatens broader West African integration. The neighbours in the impoverished Sahel region announced in January they would quit the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) - a decision the bloc has urged them to rethink, warning of the additional hardships this withdrawal would bring. At a meeting in the Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou, their three ministers confirmed a joint commitment to withdraw from ECOWAS without delay and continue cooperation under a pact known…