ECOWAS urges Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger to prioritise dialogue, reconciliation
Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has urged Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, which have announced their decision to leave the sub-regional bloc, to prioritize dialogue and reconciliation.
The call was made at the end of the extraordinary session of the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council (MSC) at the Ministerial Level in Abuja, Nigeria, on 8 February.
A statement posted on the website of ECOWAS stressed the critical need for diplomacy and unity in the face of regional challenges.
Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, and current Chair of the MSC, Yusuf Tuggar, said the decision of the three countries to withdraw from the community had presented yet another challenge.
However, he added, members are heartened by the spirit of cooperation to resolve this challenge that upholds the values of the community.
“We must carry forward the momentum generated in this session and continue our efforts to engage with the concerned member states in the spirit of understanding and reconciliation.”
Tuggar underscored the detrimental impact that the withdrawal of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger could have on their citizens.
“The choice of these three countries to exit ECOWAS would not only bring hardship to their people but also undermine regional integration efforts.”
Tuggar reinforced ECOWAS’s commitment to dialogue, diplomacy, and reconciliation as the cornerstone of its approach to resolving disputes within the community.
The statement said the meeting also focused on terrorism and called for the activation of the ECOWAS Standby Force to combat the existential threat of terrorism that looms over the community, including Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.
It said despite the imposition of sanctions, ECOWAS has continued to support these countries in their counter-terrorism efforts.
The three countries, which are under military rule, announced last month that they were leaving ECOWAS, with immediate effect, claiming that the bloc had drifted from the ideals of the founding fathers.
A statement read by Colonel Amadou Abdramane, the spokesman for the Niger junta, said: "After 49 years, the valiant peoples of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger regretfully and with great disappointment observe that the organization has drifted from the ideals of its founding fathers and the spirit of Pan-Africanism."
It said the organization had failed to assist them in their "existential fight against terrorism and insecurity".
It said, "worse, when these States decided to take their destiny into their own hands, it (ECOWAS) adopted an irrational and unacceptable posture by imposing illegal, illegitimate, inhumane and irresponsible sanctions in violation of its own texts; all things which have further weakened populations already bruised by years of violence imposed by instrumentalized and remote-controlled terrorist hordes”.
The three countries have been fighting jihadists for years with huge human and material losses.
Relations between the three countries and ECOWAS have been strained since they staged military coups at different times between 2020 and 2023.
They have been suspended from all ECOWAS and African Union decision-making bodies until constitutional order is restored. ECOWAS leaders at one stage last year threatened military action against Niger.
The regional economic bloc had been struggling to restore constitutional order in the three countries as well as Guinea.
Last year, the three countries pulled out of the G5, which was established to fight Islamists in the Sahel region, and formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
They said the mutual defence pact is against “possible threats of armed rebellion or external aggression”.
It binds the signatories to assist one another in the event of an attack on any one of them.
-0- PANA MA/RA 10Feb2024
