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Tag: Ecowas

  • ECOWAS lifts economic, travel sanctions on Niger, others

    ECOWAS lifts economic, travel sanctions on Niger, others

    The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has lifted sanctions imposed on the Niger Republic, Mali, Burkina Faso, and the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, member states that are ruled by the military, according to The Cable report.

    The ECOWAS officials said on Saturday [Feb. 24], that the decision was based on humanitarian concerns, particularly given the Lent season and the approaching month of Ramadan.

    The West African regional bloc has invited all four countries to an imminent meeting.

    The bloc has eased the sanctions it placed on Niger after the military takeover last year. The move forms part of a renewed drive for diplomacy following a series of political crises in the area in recent months.

    “ECOWAS lifts economic sanctions, border closures, commercial flights and overflights of the country with immediate effect,” the West African regional bloc posted on X.

    A no-fly zone and border closures were among the sanctions being lifted “with immediate effect,” the president of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Alieu Touray, said on Saturday, Aljazeera reported.

    The lifting of the sanctions is “on purely humanitarian grounds” to ease the suffering caused as a result, Touray told reporters after the bloc’s summit in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.

    The summit aimed to address existential threats facing the region as well as implore three military-led nations that have quit the bloc—Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso—to rescind their decision.

    Following recent coups, all three member states exited the bloc.

    Military rulers of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso announce withdrawal from ECOWAS
    ECOWAS chairman and Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said in his opening address that the bloc “must re-examine our current approach to the quest for constitutional order in four of our Member States”, referring to the three suspended countries, as well as Guinea, which is also military-led.

    Bola Tinubu, Nigerian & ECOWAS president

    Tinubu urged Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso to “reconsider the decision” and said they should “not perceive our organisation as the enemy.”

    Niger’s President Bazoum was toppled in a military coup in July, causing ECOWAS to restrict trade and impose sanctions on the country.

    Reports suggest he is still imprisoned at Niamey’s Presidential Palace. On the eve of the conference, his lawyers petitioned ECOWAS to demand his release.

    Earlier this week, ECOWAS co-founder and former Nigerian military leader General Yakubu Gowon reportedly called for the body to lift “all sanctions that have been imposed on Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and Niger”.

    Source // 3news.com

  • Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger leave ECOWAS

    Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger leave ECOWAS

    Three West African countries under military rule have declared their quick exit from the ECOWAS regional organisation, citing the organisation as a threat to its constituents.

    In a joint statement released on Sunday, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso stated that they “decide in complete sovereignty on the immediate withdrawal” from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

    According to the statement, ECOWAS “has become a threat to its member states and its population under the influence of foreign powers, betraying its founding principles.”

    The three nations charged that the regional organisation was enforcing “illegal, illegitimate, inhumane, and irresponsible sanctions” while failing to assist them in their battle against “terrorism and insecurity.”

    Since military takeovers occurred in Mali in 2020 and 2021, Burkina Faso in 2022, and Niger in 2023, relations between the three countries and ECOWAS have been strained.

    In response, the regional organisation placed severe sanctions on Niger and Mali and suspended all three nations.

    Niger attempted to mend its relationship with ECOWAS on Friday by inviting its representatives to the capital, Niamey; however, only a delegation from Togo attended.

    The prime minister of Niger nominated by the army, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, bemoaned “bad faith within this organisation.”

    The military chiefs of the three countries have united in the so-called “Alliance of Sahel States” with the aim of combating the emergence of violent armed groups within their borders.

    The three nations have severed their military ties to the former colonial power, France. Prior to the coups, France maintained a significant military presence throughout the Sahel, but it declared that it would be leaving the three nations.

    The threat that armed groups may expand southward and into the more stable coastal nations of Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Ivory Coast has increased in light of the French military withdrawal and the economic sanctions imposed on already vulnerable economies.

    In the first half of 2023, there were over 1,800 attacks in West Africa, which led to almost 4,600 deaths and severe humanitarian consequences. A senior regional official for ECOWAS claimed that this was only “a snippet of the horrendous impact of insecurity.”