 "Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) flag is pictured during an extraordinary summit of ECOWAS to hear reports from recent missions to Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea following military coups in those countries, in Accra, Ghana March 25, 2022. Reuters")
West African leaders gathered Sunday (December 15) for a summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger prepared to finalise their withdrawal from the regional bloc.
The impending exit of the three Sahel nations, set for January 2024, threatens to reshape security cooperation and free trade in a region increasingly plagued by jihadist insurgencies.
The three military-led states reaffirmed their decision to leave ECOWAS, describing it as “irreversible” and accusing the bloc of being subservient to former colonial ruler France.
Their departure follows a year of strained relations, including ECOWAS threats of military intervention and sanctions after a coup in Niger in July 2023.
Mediation efforts continue
Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, appointed as a mediator by ECOWAS, attended the summit in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. He said last week that progress had been made in talks with the Sahel states, stressing the importance of maintaining relations amid ongoing security challenges.
“While the impending exit of Burkina, Faso, Mali and Niger from ECOWAS is disheartening, we commend the ongoing mediation efforts,” ECOWAS commission president Omar Touray said at the summit’s opening.
Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbe has also been mediating with the Sahel states, but the three nations did not announce plans to attend the Abuja summit. Instead, they held a separate ministerial meeting on Friday in Niger’s capital, Niamey, where they reiterated their commitment to leaving ECOWAS.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“The ministers reiterate the irreversible decision to withdraw from ECOWAS and are committed to pursuing a process of reflection on the means of exiting in the best interests of their peoples,” they said in a joint statement.
The Alliance of Sahel states
After breaking ties with France, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have formed their own confederation, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), and pivoted towards Russia for support. The three nations, which have all experienced military coups and ongoing jihadist insurgencies, view the alliance as a platform for shared security and governance.
Guinea, another ECOWAS member run by a military government since a 2021 coup, has not announced plans to leave the bloc but has faced its own tensions with ECOWAS over delays in transitioning back to civilian rule.
Tensions over intervention
ECOWAS’s relationship with the Sahel states worsened after the bloc imposed heavy sanctions and threatened military intervention following Niger’s 2023 coup— the region’s sixth in three years.
While some sanctions were eased earlier this year in a bid to restart dialogue, divisions persist within ECOWAS over how to address the military-led governments.
Earlier this year, Nigeria’s top military commander met Niger’s army chief to bolster security cooperation along their shared border, but broader ECOWAS efforts to mediate remain fraught with challenges.
With inputs from agencies