The main goals of the Sahel States Alliance are to achieve military solidarity (French)

In an expected move, the "Coalition of Sahel States", which includes Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, announced its withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which includes 15 members from West African countries.

In the joint statement issued by the three countries, the withdrawal came as a result of the organization being subject to the influence of some foreign powers that are working against the goals and great principles of the group for which it was founded.

The roots of the crisis

The tense relationship between the “Coalition of Sahel States” and ECOWAS is due to the coup crises that occurred in Mali in 2020, Burkina Faso in 2022, and Niger in 2023.

After the military junta in Bamako set a 5-year transitional period, ECOWAS decided, after the summit of the Ghanaian capital, Accra, in January 2022, to close the borders with Mali, freeze its financial assets in its affiliated banks, and recall the ambassadors of member states from Bamako.

After the coup in Niger in 2023, ECOWAS said that it would intervene militarily in order to regain power, and imposed an expanded economic blockade on Niamey, but Mali and Burkina Faso declared that any military intervention in Niger would be considered aggression against them and would push them to go to war against the joint force of ECOWAS.

Later, these countries formed a new alliance called the “Coalition of the Sahel States,” and one of its primary goals was military solidarity and standing in the face of the threats of the West African organization.

Link in a chain

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, the writer and political analyst, Hassan Ould Hammoud, said that the withdrawal of the three countries from the organization constitutes a link in a series of events that began to develop since 2021, the most prominent of which is the alliance of coup plotters in the Sahel region, which came as a result of the economic sanctions that were eased on Mali and Burkina Faso, and was programmed. Easing it for Niger in the coming period.

Ould Hammoud added that this step came in the regional political context, which is characterized by closeness to Russia and China and distance from France and Europe as a whole.

These countries have previously withdrawn from the Group of Five Sahel countries, which was established in 2014 under French and European sponsorship with the aim of fighting terrorism in the Sahel.

Ould Hammoud believes that withdrawing from the group has external political goals, namely strengthening the Russian presence in the region, and internal goals, the most important of which is raising popular support by playing on the popular political discourse opposing Western influence.

As for the researcher specializing in African affairs, Hamdi Jawara, he believes that the withdrawal of the three countries from ECOWAS after 49 years of joint work came as a result of the organization’s departure from its path of solidarity and cooperation into a tool used by some countries to restrict other countries.

Jawara said in an interview with Al Jazeera Net that the withdrawing member states noticed the organization's ineffectiveness in the war on terrorism 10 years ago, as it was unable to make any difference, while these countries feel that they have done a lot in just two years.

Challenges

The three Sahel countries face the challenges of terrorism, separatist groups, and organized crime, and according to United Nations expectations, insecurity in the Sahel region has reached its peak, preventing humanitarian aid from reaching the displaced.

Since 2017, armed movements in the Sahel and Sahara region have multiplied seven-fold, and the region has become a hotbed of instability and tension, and an arena of conflict between terrorist movements that find a convenient place to expand in the vast desert.

Writer Hussein Ould Hammoud says that this decision will have major repercussions, because dismantling the economic and security cooperation that existed - despite its fragility - will exacerbate the problems of terrorism and organized crime, and further deteriorate economic and social conditions.

In April 2023, the World Food Program warned of food insecurity in Mali and Niger, and said that 45,000 people would reach dangerous levels of hunger.

The economic situation for these countries is more dangerous because they are landlocked and depend on the ports of ECOWAS member states. It will also paralyze the movement of trade and tax exemptions with the organization’s member states.

Exiting the group will also constitute an obstacle to the movement of citizens and their movement to other countries in West Africa due to the exit from the visa-free transit system.

Outcomes

The countries of the Sahel Alliance had previously withdrawn from the “G5 Sahel Group”, as Mali withdrew in May 2022, and Niger and Burkina Faso announced their withdrawal through a joint statement in December 2023.

After the Niger crisis and ECOWAS's declaration of the option of military intervention, the coup leader in Burkina Faso hinted at the possibility of withdrawing from the organization, as he considered it serving the agendas of some foreign countries, in reference to France.

The three countries are considered among the main countries that formed the Economic Organization of West African States in 1975, and leaving it would open the door to some other countries that see the organization as being hijacked by Nigeria, which represents 60% of its domestic product and 50% of its territory.

The total area of ​​the economic bloc is 5 million square kilometers, or 17% of the area of ​​the African continent, and the population of the member states of the group is 350 million people, according to 2021 statistics.

Observers believe that despite the legal powers it possesses through charters regarding standing up to coups, ECOWAS has failed - due to disagreement among its members - to take a unified opinion regarding the coups in Niger and Burkina Faso, and it has no choice but to reduce the tone of the threat and cancel the economic sanctions that affect the people. Just.

ECOWAS meeting in the Nigerian capital last December (Anatolia Agency)

Be gentle in your speech

Researcher Hamdi Jawara says that the organization, through its first statement in response to the withdrawal of the three member states, began to soften its rhetoric, and it had no choice but to move away from threats, confrontation, and war.

Immediately after the withdrawal of the countries located in the heart of the Sahel region, ECOWAS issued a statement in which it said that Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso are among the most important members, and work must be done to find a solution to the crisis.

In its statement, the organization described what happened as a “political impasse” that requires immediate action and rapid action to overcome it.

The founding charter stipulates that any country wishing to withdraw must inform the group’s office of this in writing within a year, and remain committed to the orders throughout the year, but the withdrawing countries issued the decision to leave with immediate effect.

It is noteworthy that the ECOWAS group was established with the aim of economic integration as an entry point to security and political integration. During its 49-year career, it carried out military interventions in Togo in 2005, Guinea-Bissau in 2012, and Gambia in 2017.

Source: Al Jazeera