The authoritarian rulers of three West African countries, General Abdourahmane Tchiani of Niger Republic; Colonel Assimi Goita of Mali; and Captain Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso, issued a joint statement they termed the ‘sovereign decision’ of their countries, to exit the 49-year-old regional economic bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The three, who sacked democratically-elected governments in their countries, blamed ECOWAS leaders for imposing biting sanctions under the influence of the West, and failure to give them a helping hand in their existential battle against terrorists.
Before they left ECOWAS, the three countries had formed what they christened the Alliance of Sahel States (ASS), with the motto: ‘one for all and all for one,’ to emphasize the intensity of the bond they intend to form to bolster their interest and take on external aggressors. However, the three are not the only countries in the Sahel belt.
Other countries in that space include Senegal, Mauritania, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Eritrea, and a small part of southern Algeria. It is not impossible that the junta may have an agenda to attract some of these countries into their fold.
As a matter of fact, the punishment meted out to the three countries, especially Niger Republic, was too heavy for a poverty-stricken, third world country to absorb. The eight-member West African Economic and Monetary Union closed all borders with Niger, suspended financial transactions; froze the country’s assets in external banks and even threatened military intervention. President Bola Tinubu overshot the mark by cutting off electricity supply to Niger Republic and crippling a lively cross-border economy on the long Nigeria-Niger border. Though it has borders with Mali and Burkina Faso, Niger’s border with Nigeria and Benin Republic are its main sources of imports of food and other key necessities, like medicine, cereals, sugar, powdered milk and vegetable oil. After the 2021 coup in Mali, ECOWAS excluded food, electricity and petroleum products from the economic and financial sanctions it slammed on the country. Many reports say the impact of the restrictions on Niger Republic is felt in all its major cities and some parts on Nigeria.
The exit of the three countries is a challenge for ECOWAS to rethink the way democracy is practiced by the heads of government in member-states. Though ECOWAS insists that member countries must be headed by democratically-elected governments, many ECOWAS leaders have abused this provision by breaching their countries’ constitutions to extend their tenures and/or rig themselves into power, against the will of the majority of their citizens. Democracy cannot be sustained when it is so abused. In their various rhetoric, the military junta in Niger Republic, Mali and Burkina Faso have used the hypocrisy and bastardization of democracy by ECOWAS countries to justify their interventions. As long as those civilian presidents in West Africa continue to smash the will of the people and disappoint them, so would the military hide under that to roll their tanks into political power. We call on ECOWAS to take steps to ensure that democracy on the continent is sustained. And it must be made clear that the era of military regime is over and should remain that way. In any case, no matter how bad a situation is, the answer does not lie in the military, and we expect military personnel in all African countries to stick to their mandates.
We call on ECOWAS to take urgent steps to find a pragmatic resolution to the jigsaw created by the three countries. From all indications, they are creating a space for another world power, Russia, to occupy a large ground in West Africa. In terms of landmass, Niger Republic, Mali and Burkina Faso occupy 54 per cent of the entire landmass of West Africa. If Guinea, another country under military rule, is enticed into the ASS, the space becomes larger, and could become a battleground for Western Powers to flex their muscle in the battle of supremacy between France, Russia and the United States of America. A sign of things to come appeared in Niger Republic, where in December, the military junta sacked the European Union Defence and Security delegation, tearing a 14-year pact. The Nigerien government had the EU team replaced with Russian security experts. The West may not abandon the Sahel region simply because they are sent packing; they may attempt to play a role in the region, and this could generate a kind of conflict that may not be predictable at the moment.
It is good that ECOWAS has said it would continue to engage the three countries. In this direction, we call on the sub-regional body to urgently review and refine the sanctions imposed on the three countries, especially those on Niger Republic, in the interest of the ordinary people who bear the brunt of it all. Nigeria must spearhead a diplomatic engagement with these countries, using even unofficial channels. The sub-region must wake up to the fact that it must fight terrorists, and rise to the occasion. The ECOWAS leaders must come together to tackle the menace, as the exit of the three countries puts the Multinational Joint Task Force, which has been assisting Nigeria to battle terrorists, in jeopardy. The ordinary citizens of the affected countries, Niger Republic, Mali and Burkina Faso need help. Therefore, efforts should be made to bring them back into the ECOWAS fold. Also, the military leadership of these three countries must also understand that exiting ECOWAS will make life more difficult for the ordinary citizens, for whom they claimed to have taken power. They should, therefore, have a re-think.
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