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ECOWAS lifts economic sanctions on Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Guinea. Strategy is changing in West Africa

ECOWAS logo and headquarters

After several years of tug-of-war with the military coup leaders in power in Mali, Guinea and Niger, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has decided to change strategy.

Meeting at an extraordinary summit in Abuja, Nigeria, on Sunday 25 February, it decided to lift the majority of sanctions imposed against Bamako, Conakry and Niamey following the overthrow of elected presidents by the military between 2020 and 2023.

The main objective of these political, economic and trade restrictions was to force the military to organize elections within a reasonable time. So far, without any result, so the management of the economic association has decided to change course.

We must re-examine our current approach to seeking constitutional order in four of our member states ,” said Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, currently president of ECOWAS. His speech included Burkina Faso, also led by a military leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, but for which sanctions remain in place for the time being.

As regards Niger, ECOWAS has decided to “lift with immediate effect” the closure of land and air borders, to end the suspension of all economic transactions between ECOWAS countries and Niamey and to lift the freeze on assets held by the Nigerian state in commercial and central banks. It was a gesture of pacification without any quid pro quo. This will allow energy to flow back to the tormented African country from Nigeria, as well as essential food supplies.

Although ECOWAS had previously made it a precondition for the release of deposed Nigerian President Mohamed Bazoum and his wife, who were held captive by the junta in the presidential palace for seven months, West African states have now disregarded this requirement. ECOWAS Commission President Omar Touray said some targeted sanctions and political sanctions remained in place for Niger, without providing details.

None of ECOWAS' demands have been met

At the same time, West African heads of state announced the end of the financial and economic sanctions imposed on Guinea, in particular the ban on financial transactions between Conakry and the body's member states. ECOWAS's latest offer to West African military regimes was the lifting of “restrictions imposed on the recruitment of its citizens to fill professional positions within ECOWAS institutions”.

Most of the economic and territorial sanctions enacted in an attempt to bring Colonel Assimi Goïta into line were dropped in July 2022 in exchange for the military regime publishing a transition timetable. This timetable was not respected by Colonel Goïta . In September 2023, the Malian president announced a “slight” postponement of the presidential elections scheduled for February 2024, but no new date was set.

Economic sanctions have also been lifted from Mali at a time when the country's government has practically lost control of half the country, which has come under the control of the Tuareg populations. Burkina Faso will also benefit from the easing of sanctions, after yesterday, in its territory, terrorists killed 170 villagers.

If nothing else, this event represents a breath of realism in a region that is unfortunately increasingly unstable from a political point of view. Going back to dealing with the governments that, legitimately or otherwise, are governing large areas of these territories and canceling the economic sanctions still means improving the situation of the local populations and seeking a common solution to the insecurity caused by too many militias and insurrectionary movements.

The great losers are certain Western powers who think it is right to starve the people while waiting for improbable internal revolts or for the coup governments, of their own volition, to leave power.


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The ECOWAS article lifts economic sanctions on Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Guinea. Changing strategy in West Africa comes from Economic Scenarios .


This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/ecowas-toglie-le-sanzioni-economiche-a-mali-niger-burkina-faso-e-guinea-si-cambia-strategia-in-africa-occidentale/ on Mon, 04 Mar 2024 17:04:20 +0000.