The recent expulsion of Mali, the Niger Republic, and Burkina Faso from the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, has alarmed stakeholders, who claim it presents grave questions regarding Nigeria’s security.
The development coincides with claims of infiltration and conclusions from Western nations, particularly the USA and Russia, with a significant concentration of Wagner Brothers fighters in the area.
According to a report by DAILY POST, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso said on Sunday that they were leaving ECOWAS because of what they described as unlawful and cruel sanctions imposed on them after their respective country’s coups.
In addition, the three nations informed the African Union, A.U., and the UN of their intention to leave the regional economic bloc, citing worries over the organization’s departure from its original ideals and the influence of outside forces.
The three nations were previously barred from ECOWAS, with Niger and Mali subject to harsh sanctions as a result of the military takeovers of power that occurred in Burkina Faso (2022), Niger (2023), and Mali (2020 and 2021).
The three countries’ military chiefs revealed in a joint statement on Sunday that they had made the “sovereign decision” to withdraw “without delay” from the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS.
“The gallant people of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger observe, after 49 years of independence, with deep sorrow, resentment, and immense dismay, that their organization has strayed from the principles of its founders and the terrorist hordes of Pan-Africanism.”
“Furthermore, ECOWAS has abandoned its initial ideals and turned into a menace to the citizens and member states whose pleasure it is meant to protect due to the influence of foreign forces.”
“In fact, the Organization has not supported our States in our desperate battle against terrorism and instability; even worse, when these States chose to take matters into their own hands, it adopted an unreasonable and unacceptable stance by enforcing unlawful, illegitimate, cruel, and careless sanctions in contravention of its charters, all of which have further weakened populations already battered by years of violence inflicted by instrumentalized and remote-controlled entities,” the statement stated in part.
Additionally, they said that the regional organization had failed to assist them in combating the jihadists who invaded Mali in 2012 and then spread to Burkina Faso and Niger.
The ECOWAS, which is presently headed by Bola Tinubu, the president of Nigeria, announced on Sunday that it had not yet received a notification of withdrawal from either state.