KEY POINTS
- Burkina, Mali and Niger withdraw from ECOWAS effective January 2025.
- The Niger coup crisis has been mismanaged by ECOWAS.
- 7 of 15 ECOWAS member states are led by coup plotters.
During its December 15 summit, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) formalized the withdrawals of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.
Article 91 of the ECOWAS Revised Treaty of 1993 indicates that the three military-ruled nations will officially be ex members of ECOWAS by January 29, 2025.
The move is a major blow to the 15 member regional body, who will drop to 12 members. ECOWAS’ decision was described as hasty, with critics saying the body should have tried to find a political solution instead of formalizing the exit.
Only seven Heads of State turned out at the summit many of member states were either absent or in attendance represented by ministers and ambassadors.
Withdrawal Formalities
The summit also tasked the Council of Ministers to draw up modalities of withdrawal and a contingency plan for the political and economic relations with the three departing nations and ordered the ECOWAS President to ‘launch the withdrawal formalities’ after 29th January 2025.
In an unexpected corner, ECOWAS had declared a six months transitional window from 29th January 2025 to 29th July 2025, whereby the nations in question would be allowed to come back.
The last thing many want to know is why the six month window, as it seems to be, well, some do, contradictory. Observers have held that ECOWAS could have dragged the withdrawal process before making the formal announcement and, as well, asked for a window period for reconciliation.
ECOWAS leadership is plagued by mismanagement, contradictions, and coups plotters
The fact that Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger withdrew from ECOWAS only exposed the big cracks within the group. The heart of the crisis lies in ECOWAS’ bungling of the Niger coup of July 26, 2023. While ECOWAS and its backers among the Western powers choose to abandon dialogue and declare war on Niger’s new leadership.
The ECOWAS Heads of State began denouncing the coup on the fourth day, issuing an ultimatum to Niger to reinstate President Mohammed Bazoum or risk ‘all necessary measures including the use of force.’ They put the ECOWAS Standby Force on standy to prepare military intervention.
Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea rejected the invasion plans, slamming an aggressive approach that also drew fire from Moscow as well as Paris. But Burkina Faso and Mali warned that if there were any military intervention in Niger, ‘we consider this a declaration of war’.
ECOWAS was forced to abandon its invasion plans because of mounting opposition and protests by Nigerian citizens who share a border with Niger. In protest, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger told ECOWAS they are quitting.
Ecowas position on exposed coups
The ECOWAS position on coups has been exposed and made a mockery by the crisis. ECOWAS had no problem with ‘civilian coup plotters’ leading several of its member states, although it had condemned military coups in Burkina, Mali, Guinea and Niger.
President Umaro Sissoco Embalo twice dissolved parliament in Guinea Bissau first in May 2022 and then in December 2023. Cote d’Ivoire’s President Alassane Ouattara forced his way into an illegal, controversial third term after more than a decade of relative peace. Togo’s Faure Gnassingbé became president after his father and changed the constitution to retain the job until 2030.
Calls for reform have coincided with the dominance of coup plotters in ECOWAS. At least seven of the 15 member states are being led by coup plotters military or civilian and questions have arisen about the legitimacy of ECOWAS as a promoter of democracy. The critics say that ECOWAS should concentrate on the democratic restructuring rather than selective condemnation of coup leaders.
