West African Juntas Given Six Months to Rethink Trade Bloc Exit
West African leaders gave military leaders from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso more time to reconsider their split from the regional economic bloc in a final attempt to avoid its fracture.
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger will have a six-month grace period after their scheduled exit from the Economic Community of West African States next month, Ecowas Commission President Omar Touray said following a summit in Nigeria’s capital Abuja on Sunday.
Before Sunday’s meeting Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso repeated that their decision to break away from the bloc was “irreversible.”
“There’s nothing that Ecowas can say or do now that will make us change our minds,” said Samuel Kalkoumdo, special adviser to Burkina Faso’s military leader, Ibrahim Traore.
The governments of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have all fallen in military coups in recent years. In January, they simultaneously announced plans to pull out of Ecowas and instead reinforce collaboration within the recently formed Alliance of Sahel States, or AES.
The move came after West African leaders imposed economic and financial sanctions on Niger to try to reverse a July 2023 military takeover. The regional bloc also threatened a military invasion to reinstate the country’s elected president, Mohamed Bazoum.
The creation of the AES enabled the junta leaders to deflect Ecowas pressure to return to civilian rule, according to Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim, deputy director of the International Crisis Group’s Sahel project.
“The creation of the alliance has offered an alternative that they believe will serve them better,” Ibrahim told reporters in a briefing on Thursday.
Ecowas can either try and reverse the withdrawal — the most ambitious option — or seek to negotiate a separation that limits the impact on both sides and facilitates a smooth return when tensions ease, Ibrahim said.
The land-locked Sahel states all rely on ports in coastal countries such as Ivory Coast, Ghana and Senegal to export goods. While an exit is unlikely to hamper trade — many goods are shipped using informal routes and there are other agreements that allow for free movement — it might constrain regional integration and security cooperation.
The three countries will remain “a visa-free area for all nationals” from Ecowas states, Mali’s Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said on the eve of a summit.
Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are among countries worst hit by terrorism, with the growing insecurity also impacting their neighbors. All three have ended security cooperation with longstanding partners France and the US and moved closer to nations including Russia, Iran and Turkey.
