A West African economic alliance warned of regional instability after three of its 15 member nations – each ruled by military leaders that seized power – cut ties to form their own pact.
Leaders attending the summit of the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, in Nigeria's capital Abuja on Sunday, grappled with the departures of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, which signed a new treaty of confederation a day earlier.
The treaty brings together 72 million people into the Alliance of Sahel States, or AES, which was created in Sept. 2023 as a mutual defense agreement among the three nations that also cooperate under the Liptako–Gourma Authority, a regional development organization since 1970. The agreement provides for cooperation in case of an internal armed rebellion or external act of aggression.
ECOWAS Commission President Omar Alieu Touray said the West African economic bloc's common market of 400 million people, and their freedom of movement would be put at risk by the loss of three member nations.
The decisions by junta-led Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger to withdraw from ECOWAS also will impact the alliance's joint security operations to combat terrorism, he said, and jeopardize more than US$500 million in funding for economic projects in those countries.
"Considering these benefits, it is evident that disintegration will not only disrupt the freedom of movement and settlement of people, but it will also worsen insecurity in the region," said Touray.
'An AES of the peoples'
In February, Nigeria's Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar chaired an emergency session of ECOWAS. Focused on terrorism, regional integration and diplomacy, it also aimed to keep Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in the fold.
That followed an announcement in late January by the nations' self-appointed military leaders that they would leave ECOWAS – which had opposed the coups and urged the juntas to restore constitutional order.
On Saturday, during their first summit in Niger's capital Niamey, Niger’s General Abdourahamane Tchiani called ECOWAS “a threat" to the three nations and described AES as an attempt to thwart foreign influence. Mali’s junta leader, Colonel Assimi Goïta, was elected as AES' first leader.
“We are going to create an AES of the peoples, instead of an ECOWAS whose directives and instructions are dictated to it by powers that are foreign to Africa,” Tchiani said.
ECOWAS imposed sanctions on Niger after its July 2023 coup that brought Tchiani to power but lifted them in February to try to mend relations.
Before the three nations' departures, Mauritania has been the only member to withdraw from ECOWAS, which was formed in Lagos, Nigeria, under a 1975 treaty to operate as a self-sufficient trading bloc.
