ABUJA, January 24th (AMSP/CGTN) – – Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger will officially leave the Economic Community of West African States regional bloc on January 29th, one year after they announced their decision to pull out of the organisation.
Their departure was prompted after military coups in the three countries between 2020 and 2023 led to a series of ECOWAS sanctions, which the country’s leaders denounced. But as the deadline approaches, experts have raised concerns over security and economic repercussions from their exit.
At this December summit of ECOWAS leaders in Abuja, the regional bloc officially accepted the request by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to withdraw from the organisation. According to ECOWAS rules, the countries can withdraw after giving 1 year written notice.
“The Authority acknowledges that in accordance with the provisions of article 91 of the revised ECOWAS treaty, the three countries will officially cease to be members of ECOWAS from 29th January 2025; the Authority directs the president of the commission to launch withdrawal formalities after the deadline of 29th January 2025 and to draw up a contingency plan covering various areas,” said Omar Alieu Touray, President of ECOWAS Commission.
While January 29th is the official departure date, the bloc has given the three countries a grace period of 6 months for their transition in the hopes that they will change their minds. Analysts say the exit of the three countries will greatly impact the 5 decades of economic and security cooperation enjoyed with ECOWAS member countries.
“The physical impact is that the ECOWAS region would be shrunk in size, in fact, like 50 percent shrunk in size. Economy too, it will shrink because even though their economy, combined, is quite small, but it’s still an addition towards ECOWAS. Strategically, it would also impact ECOWAS in terms of security, meaning that ECOWAS will have to find another way, measures in terms of transnational crime, spillover effect of security, that would definitely impact ECOWAS but it means that they also have to restrategise,” said Senator IROEGBU, Conflict and Security Analyst.
The military leaders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger say there’s no going back and have formed their own group called the Alliance of Sahel States. They are also planning to jointly create a 5,000-man military force to fight militant groups in the Sahel region.
Security experts say despite the trio’s exit, ECOWAS must continue to collaborate with them. ” So ECOWAS should still keep their doors open…in terms of security they can have a form of relation the way they relate with them security wise, intelligence wise so they’re not completely cut off,” said Senator IROEGBU.
The exiting countries have said they’ll remain visa-free for citizens from ECOWAS member states after leaving.
And countries including Nigeria have signed a deal with Niger to boost security around their borders.
“ECOWAS ministers are expected to hold an extraordinary meeting in the second half of 2025 to plan for future relations with the three countries post-exit. In the meantime, the regional bloc says mediation efforts in convincing Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger will continue until July.
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