W Africa bloc provides junta-led states six months to rethink exit

By Camillus Eboh

ABUJA (Reuters) – Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger could have a six-month grace interval after their scheduled exit from West Africa’s important political and financial group subsequent month throughout which the ECOWAS bloc will attempt to persuade them to remain, the bloc’s leaders agreed on Sunday.

The summit of the Financial Group of West African States (ECOWAS) was seen as an opportunity to handle the upcoming withdrawal of the three nations on Jan. 29, a yr after they collectively introduced they would depart in a reversal of a long time of regional integration.

ECOWAS has up to now failed in its objective to push them to rethink, whereas the three nations within the insurgency-torn central Sahel area have arrange their very own alliance, sought ever-closer alignment in defence and different areas and mooted abandoning the West African forex union.

Whereas Jan. 29 stays the official withdrawal date, the efficient date for his or her departure has been prolonged to July 29 – a transition interval throughout which mediators from the bloc will search “to convey the three member nations again to ECOWAS with out prejudice,” fee president Oumar Touray stated on the finish of the summit.

On Saturday, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso reaffirmed their choice to depart as irreversible and collectively declared that their territories would stay visa-free for all ECOWAS residents post-exit.

This transfer may very well be an effort to handle warnings that their departure threatens the bloc’s freedom of motion and its frequent market of 400 million individuals.

Their withdrawal would cap a tumultuous interval for the Sahel, the place a string of coups since 2020 has swept army authorities to energy who’ve fostered nearer ties with Russia on the expense of former colonial ruler France, and different one-time allies from the area and elsewhere.