ABUJA - West Africa’s economic and political bloc has launched a formal push to convince three junta-led member states to shelve their joint breakaway plan, with Senegal’s president Bassirou Diomaye Faye appointed special envoy to the disaffected nations.
At a meeting in Nigeria’s capital Abuja on Sunday, Ecowas chair President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria commissioned Faye to work “around the clock” in concert with Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbe to persuade Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger to abandon their Alliance of Sahel States (AES) and remain Ecowas members.
They formed the AES as a defense pact last September, in the face of Tinubu’s threat to restore democratic rule in Niger through a military intervention. They declared their split from Ecowas in January. At the alliance’s first summit last weekend, Niger’s head of state Abdourahmane Tiani said their Ecowas departure is “irrevocable.”
A breakup of the bloc could “disrupt the freedom of movement and settlement of people” and worsen insecurity in West Africa, warned Omar Touray, president of the bloc’s commission.
Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have mutual borders and are battling insurgencies by affiliates of Islamist groups Al-Qaeda and Islamic State. Each is led by a military government, following coups that overthrew elected civilian administrations, and has pared down defense partnerships with France and the United States while increasing engagement with Russia.
