NEWS- Heads of State across West Africa have today Saturday February 24th 2024, met again with a call on three junta-led nations to rescind their decision to quit the Regional Bloc and to review sanctions imposed on Niger following a coup.
The summit of the 15-nation Regional Ststes of Economic of West African States (ECOWAS) meeting in Nigeria’s Capital City Abuja comes at a critical time when the 49-year-old bloc’s future is threatened as it struggles with possible disintegration and a recent surge in coups fueled by discontent over the performance of elected governments whose citizens barely benefit from mineral resources.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who is the current chairman of ECOWAS, said at the start of the summit that decisions to be made must be guided by commitment to safeguarding the constitutional order, upholding democratic principles and promoting the social and economic well-being of the citizens.
International Observers said that top on the agenda during the Summit was the recent decision by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to leave the Economic Community of West African States over what they termed as inhumane sanctions and this move is unprecedented since the bloc was established in 1975 and grew to become the region’s top political and economic authority.
President Tinubu therefore said that they must re-examine their current approach to the quest for constitutional order in member states and urged them to reconsider the decision and not to perceive the organization as the enemy.
The summit was also expected to review the harsh sanctions imposed on Niger after one of the bloc’s founding leaders and Nigeria’s former military ruler, Yakubu Gowon, urged regional leaders to lift the sanctions, noting that the bloc is more than a coalition of states and is a community established for the good of the people.
The West African Region has had a total of nine coups since 2020 following a similar pattern, with coup leaders accusing governments of failing to provide security and good governance and most of these coup-hit countries are among the poorest and least-developed in the world.
A political analyst for the Middle East and Africa with the Economist Intelligence Unit, Dr Karim Manuel observed that the sanctions against Niger and the threat of military intervention to reverse the coup triggered an inevitable outcome of the three countries’ withdrawal from ECOWAS.
Manuel noted that the withdrawal of the 3 States will make the West African Region become increasingly fragmented and divided as the new alliance between Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger fragments the West African bloc and reflects an axis of opposition to the traditional structures that have underpinned the region for decades.
Additional Reporting from Aljazzera Africa
