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Leaders of the West African regional grouping, Ecowas, have approved the withdrawal of three countries ruled by the military from the bloc, but have offered a six-month grace period for them to reconsider.<\/p>\n
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger plan to withdraw from Ecowas in January after refusing the bloc’s demand to restore democratic rule.<\/p>\n
This is the first time any country has left Ecowas since it was established in 1975 to improve economic and political integration in West Africa.<\/p>\n
The three departing countries were founding members so this is a huge blow to what was Africa’s most developed trade grouping.<\/p>\n
Citizens of all Ecowas countries currently have the right to live and work in all member states, while goods can circulate freely.<\/p>\n
Ecowas has not yet said whether it will impose restrictions on people and goods coming from the three departing states, who have formed a new grouping, the Alliance of Sahelian States (ASS).<\/p>\n
The Ecowas Commission in Abuja has been mandated to work out such issues, and how the two blocs should work together in future.<\/p>\n
Over the weekend, the ASS announced visa-free travel and residency rights for Ecowas citizens.<\/p>\n
Their leaders said this decision had been taken in the spirit of friendship, and to strengthen centuries-old ties among African people.<\/p>\n
However, the three countries are poor and landlocked, so most migrants move from them to the richer, coastal countries in West Africa.<\/p>\n
Ecowas leaders meeting in Nigeria on Sunday said they respected the three Sahel countries’ decision to leave but offered a transitional period of six months.<\/p>\n
In the period between 29 January and 29 July 2025, the trio can be readmitted to the bloc should they decide to rejoin the community, a communique from Ecowas noted.<\/p>\n
In the meantime negotiations led by Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Togo’s Faure Gnassingb\u00e9 will continue.<\/p>\n
So far the military juntas have refused to remain in the bloc despite efforts to persuade them.<\/p>\n
After a ministerial-level meeting on Friday in Niger’s capital, Niamey, the three states said in a joint statement that their decision was “irreversible”.<\/p>\n
Their withdrawal would be a major blow to regional unity and efforts to boost economic and security cooperation.<\/p>\n
At the opening of the summit, Ecowas commission head Omar Touray said their “impending exit” was “disheartening”, but he wanted to “commend the ongoing mediation efforts”, AFP news agency reported.<\/p>\n
With their planned departure, the bloc will lose 76 million of its 446 million people and more than half its total geographical land area.<\/p>\n
In a statement, ASS chairman, Mali’s military ruler Assimi Go\u00efta, said the right of Ecowas citizens to “enter, circulate, reside, establish and leave the territory” of the new bloc would be maintained.<\/p>\n
His statement was seen as a signal to Ecowas leaders that Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger wanted to maintain good relations, despite quitting the bloc.<\/p>\n
The three states gave notice to Ecowas in January 2023 that they would withdraw in a year, meeting the timeline set by the bloc for states that decide to leave.<\/p>\n
Relations between the bloc and the three countries have been tense after military coups took place in Niger in July, Burkina Faso in 2022 and Mali in 2020.<\/p>\n
Ecowas condemned the coups, and suspended their membership, hoping they will restore civilian rule.<\/p>\n
But the coup leaders dug in their heels, and have pivoted towards Russia.<\/p>\n
They accuse Ecowas of being too close to Western powers, and are increasingly relying on Russia to fight armed jihadists who are waging an insurgency in the region.<\/p>\n