Alliance of Sahel States discuss exit from ECOWAS
The Alliance of Sahel States are discussing an exit from ECOWAS, the regional political and economic union of fifteen countries of West Africa.
Africa News reports that Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali are due to withdraw officially from the bloc on 28th January.
The Foreign Ministers from the Alliance of Sahel met in a gathering in Ougadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, on the 26th to discuss the formalities of the exit.
The ministers agreed to take a ‘global approach’ to the negotiations for their departure from ECOWAS, meaning that they should have firm plans for peaceful coexistence.
The three countries announced their plans to exit from ECOWAS a few months after forming their own group in 2023, known by its French acronym, AES
Their relations with the bloc have been tense after military coups took place in Mali in 2020, Burkina Faso in 2022, and Niger last July. ECOWAS has attempted to delay withdrawal by six months in December 2024, but the Alliance states rejected this.
Violence in the Sahel region has been characterised by conflict with Islamist groups linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State, whose influence has deepened since the military coups.
ECOWAS condemned all three of the coups, suspended their membership, and pressed them to restore civilian rule, however junta leaders failed to oblige, and expelled French troops stationed in their countries, looking to Russia as a geopolitical ally.
ECOWAS has also claimed that the formation of AES is a scheme to purposely destabilise the strength of ECOWAS, claims which have been countered by AES heads, who place the blame for destabilisation on the French.
Africa News
