Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger are demanding an immediate withdrawal from ECOWAS, rejecting a one-year notice period
The military governments of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger failed to comply with the rules in their decision to withdraw from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the regional bloc said on Thursday, calling for dialogue to resolve issues among the parties.
ECOWAS Commission President Omar Alieu Touray made the comments at a mediation and security council meeting in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, where the exit notice of the three member states was discussed alongside an electoral crisis in Senegal.
Late last month, military-ruled Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger jointly announced their exit from the 15-nation regional political and economic alliance that allows visa-free travel among members. The three former French colonies accused the bloc, which has long pressed them to restore democratic rule, of serving foreign interests and posing a threat to their countries. They also claim ECOWAS violated its own principles by imposing harsh sanctions, including border closures, in response to the coups.
While member states are required to give one-year’s written notice prior to their withdrawal from ECOWAS, the coup leaders in Ouagadougou, Bamako, and Niamey have stressed that they want to leave the union without delay. Mali and Niger said in separate statements on Wednesday that they are “no longer bound by the deadline constraints” in the ECOWAS treaty, claiming the authority itself has breached the pact.
In an exclusive interview with RT last week, Nigerian lawyer Daniel Bwala said the withdrawal of the three landlocked countries will have a significant impact on cross-border trade and movement between them and the remaining members of the bloc. Andrei Maslov, head of the Center for African Studies at Russia’s Higher School of Economics, believes that the exit would give them more decision-making power.
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