The breakaway of three-member nations – Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali – from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) a few months before its 50th anniversary may not appear to be good tidings for the sub-regional bloc. It means the body will be limping to the historic occasion of its golden jubilee.
The ECOWAS came into existence on May 28, 1975, following a treaty signed in Lagos by 15 West African countries. Cape Verde later joined the bandwagon. The 15-member nations that midwifed the sub-regional body are Liberia, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, The Gambia, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Sierra Leone, Mali, Republic of Benin, Togo, Mauritania and Burkina Faso, then known as Upper Volta until 1984. Of this number, the Franco-phone countries account for eight, while the Anglo-phone nations make up the rest with former Portuguese colony, Cape Verde, in the mix.
The cardinal objectives behind the formation of the bloc are to drive economic cooperation among member states in order to raise the living standards of their people and promote economic development. Exigencies of the time also necessitated the creation of other platforms to engender peace and security as well as developing infrastructure, policy formulation to facilitate trade and good corporate governance.
The bloc’s capacity to ensure security of its member-states was put to test during the protracted Liberian Civil War that turned brothers into foes between the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. A military intervention force, the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), was created to arrest the madness and restore normalcy. That was, perhaps, one of the greatest achievements in its history. Interestingly, it was a Liberian President, William Shadrach Tubman, who conceived the idea that led to the formation of the bloc. Also former President Muhammadu Buhari, as the Chairman of ECOWAS, engaged the military junta that overran the civilian regime in Burkina Faso to restore democratic rule, peace and security.
The ECOWAS has, without a doubt, served as a stabilising force in the sub-region, acting as oil poured on boiling water. It is probably in the light of this role that the bloc came down hard on the coupists that hurled Nigerien President, Mohammed Bazoum, out of power on July 26, 2023. Within days following the insurrection, the ECOWAS reeled out a raft of sanctions on the country, the heaviest punishments that it has ever imposed on an errant member state.
The Nigeria-led member states, excluding those suspended since falling under military rule – Burkina faso, Guinea and Mali – agreed to close all borders with Niger and suspended financial transactions as well as freeze the country’s assets in external banks. The bloc also issued ultimatum to the junta to restore constitutional order and reinstate ousted Bazoum within one week or risk military intervention to restore democratic rule, and ostensibly to halt the resurgence of contagious military coups the sub-region was notorious for in times past.
Many observers argued that Nigeria, the major contributor to the ECOMOG, would spearhead the intervention since its president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, also doubles at the chairman of the bloc. He was barely two weeks in the saddle as the chairman when the coupists struck.
The groundswell of the sanctions imposed on Niger were more felt along the long Nigeria-Niger common borders, disrupting livelihoods and exacerbating humanitarian challenges. The sanctions also threatened to harm bilateral cooperation on a range of important issues, particularly security. It is almost two years that the junta has held on to power in Niger, leaving the bloc still searching for the way forward. Several moves were made to resolve the logjam. However, all efforts have come to zilch.
Only recently, the Niger junta head, Abdourahamane Tchiani, accused the Nigerian government of granting France a space to set up a military base for a possible invasion of his territory. The National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, and the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, had to scramble to the media space to debunk the claim, dismissing it as a gambit to shore up his waning popularity at home.
In the midst of diplomatic tensions, the three renegade members – Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – came together at a meeting in Niamey, last year, to finalise a draft text creating the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) with the objective to finalise the details of the pull-out before the signature of a treaty. One of their grouses was that the bloc is a stooge of the West. On January 29, 2025, the treaty was signed to officially mark the exit of the three nations, thus reducing the bloc to 12-member states.
We may not have seen the end of this fissure in the bloc. It is believed in the diplomatic and economic circles that the driving force behind the “rebellion” is the desire by these exiters to untether themselves from the grip of their erstwhile colonial master, accused of economic exploitation and modern slavery since independence. The three poor, landlocked nations tormented by terrorists and chronic food insecurity may sooner than later find out that they cannot live in isolation of their neighbours in the sub-region. We suggest that the ECOWAS should still leave its doors open. After the three “musketeers” have savoured their new-found freedom and the AES exuberance, they may find that they cannot be an island unto themselves for too long. The prodigal son has a way of retracing his steps!
