After years of attempting to exert pressure on military coup leaders in Mali, Guinea, and Niger, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has decided to change its approach.
In an extraordinary summit held in Abuja, Nigeria, on February 25, ECOWAS decided to lift most of the sanctions imposed on Bamako, Conakry, and Niamey following the overthrow of elected presidents by the military between 2020 and 2023.
[ Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger Leave West African Bloc ECOWAS ]
The primary objective of these political, economic, and trade restrictions was to compel the military to organize elections within a reasonable timeframe. However, despite the efforts, the sanctions have proven ineffective.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, the current ECOWAS president, acknowledged the need to reassess the current approach to achieving constitutional order in the member states.
His statement also included Burkina Faso, which is currently governed by a military leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, and remains under sanctions for the time being.
In the case of Niger, ECOWAS has decided to lift the closure of land and air borders immediately.
Additionally, the suspension of all economic transactions between ECOWAS countries and Niamey will be lifted, and the freeze on assets held by the Nigerien state with commercial and central banks will be released.
This gesture of appeasement, however, was made without any corresponding trade-off.
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