The Withdrawal of Burkina Faso, Mali And Niger from ECOWAS And Its Impact on the Sub-Region

 The Withdrawal of Burkina Faso, Mali And Niger from ECOWAS And Its Impact on the Sub-Region 

 

By Muaz Ahmad 

 

For West African sub-region, 28th January, 2024 was a “Tale of Genji”—mistakes always have lasting consequences that often cannot be foreseen till far later. Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali have announced their exit from the sub-region body without deeply reflecting on the outcome it might bring to them individually and to the sub-region in general.

 

Toyin Falola in his book “A History of Nigeria” recounts some of the reasons why the then head of State, Yakubu Gawon—the brainchild of the formation of ECOWAS—formed the organization in concert with the rest of its founding member countries, on 28th May 1975, Lagos; and that’s to promote economic integration, but more significantly, to strengthen the security of the area. Because, after the end of the Nigerian Civil War, studies showed that Nigeria should unify the countries in the sub-region for it to be able to defend itself and the rest of the countries from external threats and influence. Recognizing the invaluably distinct difference this organization has made for  for west Africa pushed IBB’s regime to foster cordial relationships within the west African sub-region and even beyond. The government willingly reversed the policy of closed borders that had been previously implemented and gave other African citizens the chance to stay and work in Nigeria. It has been observed that such actions contributed immensely to his ascension to ECOWAS chairmanship and renewal for two consecutive terms. He did also sponsor the ECOWAS Monitoring Group’s (ECOMOG) formation—which was instrumental in intervening in internal conflicts within the sub-region.

 

London School of Economics and Political Science through its established Crisis States Research Center, published “Africa’s Sub-Regional Organizations: Seamless Web Or Patchwork?”—a paper brilliantly designed to explore whether Africa’s sub-regional organizations function as a cohesive and integrated system. And the research underpinned the sterling work the sun-regional bodies do, despite challenges. “The African Union (AU) neither intends to manage, nor would be capable of managing, the entire continent’s armed conflicts or other pressing problems. Hence, the African security architecture developed by the AU envisages a considerable outsourcing of responsibility to the various sub-regional organizations, usually referred to as the REC (the Regional Economic Communities). And this was done to ensure that every sub-region on the continent is well organized, and structured, believing that depending upon one another would lead to collective prosperity.” The paper observed this. Therefore, it’s disastrous for a country or countries to isolate themselves, particularly in this most pressing economic and security crises.

 

Dilemma in Stealth 

 

At first glance, this decision may enjoy the support of many people in the various countries, particularly considering the way and manner ECOWAS has dealt with the coup situation in Niger, more importantly, the sanctions imposed. But at the background, this was a very “unfortunate decision”, as analysts observed it. One analyst opined: “Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso withdrawing from ECOWAS amounts to a colossal act of economic self-sabotage. Isolating yourself from your closest neighbors amid an epic economic crisis is profoundly unwise.” 

 

The three countries are among the 16 landlocked states in Africa. This prevents them access to the ocean or sea. When it comes to maritime economy alone, these three countries have, for many years, banked on Nigeria and Benin. For many years, Nigeria has been taking care of the bills of ECOWAS.

 

Continuous Decline in Security 

 

The fact needs to be said because they are already manifesting themselves, posing more threats than ever. Ever since the takeover of soldiers in these three countries, the standard of living of the citizens has been worsening. And this is hinged to the actions and ill-fittingness of the military. Breaking away from the sub-regional body is likely to make things gloomy in the affected areas.

 

Terrorism has become the order of the day. And yet it’s believed that democratic governments in these countries were toppled greatly because of insecurity challenges. The people in these states are finding it difficult to remain hopeful about the future. “Always promising to bury the concern of insecurity in a place where it will be lost to the sands of time. We are tired”. Youths crying out for real solutions. They are tired. 

 

“In Niger Republic, for instance, the absence of multinational counter-insurgency has made its borders vulnerable, especially around Zinder and Diffa regions bordering Yobe and Borno states in Nigeria.” One analyst says.

 

What Should We Do?

On 23th Jan., I wrote an article which I titled “Our Struggle”, and published in my blog (http://sirmuazahmad.blogspot.com); I was trying to explain what we should do at any level of interaction: be it at the local, state, sub-regional, continental or international. In the second paragraph of my write-up, I explained this: “We are living in a world where there is “a sweeping competition for resources”. And in this competition for resources, teams have been formed. And in these teams that have been created, most of the teams that we(Africans) are playing against, are actually playing as groups (Europeans, Asians, and Americans) of racist against us. The Jews have established themselves as a race and a people that are separate; they don’t want to mix with others; they have created themselves as a group that seeks to make sure that other races are fighting each other. They seek to control the dominant at the end of the day. (“The International Jew” by Henry Ford). The Europeans have set themselves apart in the same way. The Germans have done similar work. The Indians and the Chinese have achieved this, too.”

 

Therefore, we need to work as a team and pull our resources for collective development-for us to be able to escape the scary impact this will exert on the sub-region. 

 

Mu’az Ahmad; Foreign Affairs Analyst and can be reached via muazuahmadmuazu4@gmail.com

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