Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have decided to immediately withdraw their countries from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the regional organization comprising 15 members, as announced in a joint statement today, Sunday.
The statement, read on the official media in the three countries, stated that the leaders of the three Sahel countries “assume all their responsibilities before history and in response to the expectations and aspirations of their peoples, decide with full sovereignty the immediate withdrawal of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger from the Economic Community of West African States.”
Colonel Amadou Abdurrahman, the spokesperson for the military council in Niger, said in the statement, “After 49 years, the valiant peoples of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger see, with great regret and disappointment, that the ECOWAS organization has deviated from the high ideals of its founding fathers and the spirit of African unity.”
Abdurrahman added, “The organization clearly did not assist these countries in their existential war on terrorism and insecurity.”
These three countries have experienced military takeovers of power in recent years, with the most recent being the army’s takeover in Niger in July, following the ousting of President Mohamed Bazoum.
The regional organization imposed sanctions on these countries and began talks with them to establish a timeline for organizing presidential elections, but those talks did not yield results.
ECOWAS is a regional political and economic union that encompasses fifteen countries located in West Africa. Established on May 28, 1975, by the Treaty of Lagos, ECOWAS aims to foster economic integration and cooperation among its member states. The organization works towards creating a single large trade bloc to achieve collective self-sufficiency, improve living standards, and promote economic development within the region. The fundamental principles of ECOWAS include equity, inter-dependence, solidarity, cooperation, nonaggression, regional peace, and the promotion of human rights and economic and social justice. It also focuses on harmonizing agricultural policies and facilitating the free movement of people, services, and capital between member countries. ECOWAS plays a significant role in peacekeeping within the region, with member states occasionally sending joint military forces to intervene during times of political instability and unrest.
