What changes like Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger leave the West African block?

Three countries under military government have officially left the regional block of West Africa after more than a year of diplomatic tensions.

The withdrawal of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger is a huge blow to Ecowas, which is 50 years old considered the most important regional group in Africa.

The division was ignited after the three departing countries refused Ecowas’ demands to restore diplomatic government.

On Wednesday, Ecowas said it would hold its “door open” to Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, although they move on with their own block, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES from their French abbreviation).

Ecowas – which means the economic community of West African countries – was founded in 1975 in an attempt to improve economic and political integration in West Africa.

Before shaking on Wednesday, the block had 15 members, including states such as Nigeria, Ghana, Cott D’Ivoire and Senegal.

Citizens of all Ecowas countries are currently entitled to live and work in all Member States, while goods can circulate freely.

Relations between Ecowas and the three Sahel countries are tense, as the military seized power in Niger in 2023, Burkina Faso in 2022 and Mali in 2020.

After Niger’s coup, Ecowas imposed crippling sanctions on the country, such as border closure, an area without flight for all commercial flights and freezing of the assets of the Central Bank.

Ecowas also threatened to unleash Niger’s strength to restore democratic government.

But this hard line simply strengthened the determination of the three junctions.

Mali and Burkina Faso criticized Ecowas’s “inhuman” sanctions and swore to defend Niger if the block intervened military.

After being stopped by Ecowas, the three countries withdrew, informing last January that they would withdraw in a year, responding to the timeline designated by the block for countries that decide to leave.

Since then, negotiations between Ecowas and Juntas have been conducted – but they have failed.

The three countries accuse Ecowas of being too close to Western powers and instead headed for Russia.

According to departing countries, they will now experience more sovereignty, as well as independence than a force that has an external program.

But analysts say Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso can fight outside the block – these are poor and landing countries whose economies depend on their West African neighbors.

While Ecowas develops the conditions of his future relations with the three countries, he says he will continue to recognize all the passports and identity cards carrying the Ecowas logo held by citizens from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.

The parties will also remain in the free trade scheme of the block.

Similarly, the chairman of AES, the military ruler of Mali Assimi Goa, said last January that the right of Ecowas citizens to “enter, distribute, reside, establish and leave the territory” of the new block will be maintained.

Ilyasu Gadu, an expert on international matters and a media consultant based in the capital of Nigeria Abuja, told the BBC: “The three Junta leaders have taken steps to say:“ Yes, we are pulling from ecowas, but we want to maintain our relationships S You will not close our borders, because they must have realized that if they did, they would shoot in their feet. ”

Western Africa observers are also concerned that withdrawal will impair security in the region. Sahel – the semi -dry region south of the Sahara Desert, which includes the three departing countries – is wrapped in jihadist riots and now represents “almost half of all terrorism deaths worldwide”, a UN senior employee said in AprilS

Ecowas supported Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in their fight against jihadists, but this help could be canceled, observers were afraid.

Although the junta is now receiving weapons and mercenaries from Russia, fighters continue to make severe casualties on both civilians and armed forces.

Ecowas will lose 76 million of its 446 million people and more than half of its total geographical land.

There are also fears that withdrawal will weaken both regional unity and cooperation in the fight against rebels.

The division “worsens the Ecowas legitimacy crisis, which often fails with people’s expectations to comply with the rule of law,” said Ulf Laessing, Sahel’s leader at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Konrad Adenauer told The Foundation, told the Foundation The Foundation Adenauer. Associated PressS

“The fact that the three, the most, Member States decided to leave the block, it drives an ecos in the eyes of their citizens to look even more like a loser in this conflict.”

On Tuesday, some people in the three departing countries took to the streets to celebrate the withdrawal.

But not everyone supports Huntas’s decisions.

Niger’s Omar Hama said she wanted the three countries to remain in Ecowas while belonging to AES.

“I would like to overcome their differences because we have a common space, the same people with historical similarities and the same economic realities,” he told the BBC.

Fatuma Harbor, a journalist and blogger living in Mali, is worried that change can ultimately lead to administrative and economic quarrels for her and other citizens of the three countries.

“However, if the Union of Sahel States (AE) can really bring benefits to us, that would be an excellent thing,” she said.

Major Isa, who lives in the capital of Mali Bamaco, took a firm position, saying, “Ecowas has no power, the Westerners decide for Ecowas leaders. Yes, I’m very happy with the decision.”

At Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, Cisse Kabore told the BBC that she wants her country to remain in Ecowas, as now the region “will no longer be united as before.”

Last month, Ecowas said it would give Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali a six -month grace period to review their withdrawal.

At a press conference on Wednesday, however, the head of the Ecowas Committee Omar Aliyu Tui said: “Any country can decide to return to the community at any time.”

In order to consolidate their exit from Ecowas and to relate to their union, the three countries said they would begin to distribute new AES passports on Wednesday.

They have also decided to join forces to create the 5,000 military unit to combat the violence of jihadists, which has been hitting nations for years.