The three breakaway ECOWAS members, what next?

Last Wednesday, an official announce­ment was that three West African countries under military rule have officially left the regional bloc, The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), after more than a year of diplomatic tensions.

Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger broke away from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in January 2024, sight­ing the opposition to ECOWAS sanctions and pressure.

This is deemed by many polit­ical security analysts as a huge to ECOWAS.

The split was sparked after the three departing countries refused ECOWAS demands to restore diplomatic rule. After months of negotiations, the leaders of these three countries have not yielded to the request of the rest of the membership of the 50-year-old po­litical and economic organisation in the subregion.

After these three countries had experienced military coups between 2020 and 2023, which was against the dictates of the ECOW­AS. The organisation then imposed sanctions to pressure them into returning to civilian rule. The lead­ers viewed these sanctions as unfair and harmful to their economies and citizens.

ECOWAS on Wednesday accept­ed the withdrawal after woefully failing to keep their neighbours within the fold. The organisation has however kept its doors open to the three break-away countries.

The three sovereign countries are of the view that relations be­tween Ecowas and the three Sahel countries have been tense since the military seized power in Niger in 2023, Burkina Faso in 2022 and Mali in 2020.

They criticised ECOWAS’ “inhu­man” sanctions and vowed to de­fend Niger if the bloc intervened militarily. After being suspended by ECOWAS, the three states hit back by giving notice last January that they would withdraw in a year, meeting the timeline set by the bloc for states that decide to leave.

The three breakaway countries also accused the ECOWAS’ shift away from Western Influence. They believe ECOWAS, backed by Western countries like France and the U.S., pushed for democracy thereby serving the interest of the Western world rather than African unity.

After the Niger coup, ECOWAS imposed crippling sanctions on the country, such as border closures, a no-fly zone for all commercial flights and the freezing of central bank assets.

Ecowas also threatened to de­ploy its forces to Niger to restore democratic rule, but this hard line merely strengthened the resolve of the three juntas. Negotiations between ECOWAS and the juntas have taken place since then – but have failed.

The three countries accuse Ecowas of being too close to Western powers and have instead pivoted towards Russia.

The trio have now allied to seek for their security and development. The Alliance of Sahel States, AES by its French acronym aims to ensure mutual defence and security cooperation. It is also to strengthen military collaboration to fight ter­rorism and insurgencies. They also aim to support each other against external threats and interventions. These countries also chiefly wish to reduce dependence on Western military support and gain full polit­ical sovereignty and Independence.

They also accused the regional body of failing to support their fight against “terrorism and inse­curity”, while imposing “illegal, ille­gitimate, inhumane and irresponsi­ble sanctions”.

These junta-led countries had already been suspended from the bloc, which has been urging them to return to democratic rule for their reinstatement.

According to the Ecowas treaty, member states wishing to withdraw must give written notice a year in advance, and continue to abide by its provisions during that year but ECOWAS says it had not yet received formal notification from the countries about their withdraw­al from the bloc.

Sovereign as these countries are, they have the right and the powers to exercise their sovereign decisions by choosing what befits them, by way of national aspira­tions. Notwithstanding, there are rules and regulations governing ev­ery institution such as the ECOW­AS. The general decision of the bloc requires all member states to be under true democratic dispen­sation. Anything short of this has caused their suspension which has also necessitated their unfortunate withdrawal from the 49 years old regional organisation.

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.

Ironically these nations were found­ing members of the bloc, first established in 1975.

With the main ob­jective of promoting growth and prosper­ity through regional interdependence.

ECOWAS is made up of fifteen mem­ber countries that are located in the West­ern African region. These countries have both cultural and geopolitical ties and share common economic interests such as citizenship, Governance and regional security, new eco­nomic issues, environment, natural resources and development, higher education and employment issues. They also share ECOWAS and regional integration experiences.

The treaty establishing ECOW­AS, among other things, provided for trade liberalization and the establishment of an economic community among member coun­tries. Specifically, the community would ensure by stages: The elimi­nation of customs duties and other charges concerning trade flows among member countries.

It is also to promote econom­ic cooperation among member states to raise living standards and promote economic development. ECOWAS has also worked to address some security issues by developing a peacekeeping force for conflicts in the region.

Among other things, they are to harmonise agricultural, economic, monetary, and industrial policies and abolish trade restrictions and customs duties as well as establish a common fund and implement infrastructural schemes.

ECOWAS was formed to provide regional economic co­operation but has since evolved to include political and military cooperation, as well.

One would ask, how have member states including these secessionist countries benefitted from these laudable objectives? So therefore, do they have anything to lose if they go away and put their destinies in their hands?

These countries’ accusations of Ecowas drifting from the ideals of its founding fathers and the spirit of Pan-Africanism must be critical­ly examined against the backdrop of the aims and objectives of the bloc.

They feel betrayed when they say Ecowas “under the influence of foreign powers, betraying its founding principles, has become a threat to member states and peo­ples.” This connotes that the bloc had failed to help them tackle their challenges especially security chal­lenges with the jihadist violence in their countries.

Ecowas has called on all three countries to return to civilian rule. Yes very resounding approach but it has to do more for the brethren in these countries to feel a sense of belonging and caring.

It is common knowledge that the military leaders who metamorpho­se themselves into political leaders perform worse than those they overthrew. It, therefore, becomes a waste of time, resources, and human dignity. People are fed up with their governments for many reasons — major security threats, relentless humanitarian disasters and millions of young people having no prospects. But in organ­isations such as the ECOWAS, all members are deemed equally im­portant and the bloc and they must be assisted remains committed to finding a negotiated solution to the political impasse.

ECOWAS must take a critical look at how the grievances of military officers and the youth in these countries could be effectively addressed. The leaders must also consider military popularity and attitudinal cohesiveness. Impor­tantly, the economic decline. The domestic political crisis and exter­nal threats among others help curb this menace.

Let us find a way of helping and bringing them back into the fold.

BY NANA SIFA TWUM (PHD)