Why Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger Pulled Out Of ECOWAS | READ FULL DETAILS

Three African countries, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger Republic, have withdrawn their membership from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The three countries currently governed by a military junta, announced their immediate withdrawal from ECOWAS on Sunday, January 28.

According to the countries, ECOWAS has become a threat to it’s member states, hence their “sovereign decision” to withdraw “without delay”.

Struggling with jihadist viole-nce and poverty, the regimes have had tense ties with ECOWAS since coups took place in Niger, July 2023, Burkina Faso in 2022 and Mali in 2020.

All three, founding members of the bloc in 1975, were suspended from ECOWAS with Niger and Mali facing heavy sanctions as the bloc tried to push for early return of civilian governments with elections.

The sanctions were an “irrational and unacceptable posture” at a time when the three “have decided to take their destiny in hand”, a reference to the coups that removed civilian administrations.

The three nations have hardened their positions in recent months and joined forces in an “Alliance of Sahel States”.

The leaders’ joint statement added that 15-member ECOWAS, “under the influence of foreign powers, betraying its founding principles, had become a threat to member states and peoples.

They accused the grouping of failing to help them tackle jihadists, who swept into Mali from 2012 and then on to Burkina Faso and Niger.