Highlights: Truck drivers “very worried” about the exit of Mali, Burkina and Niger from ECOWAS. If the conditions and timetable for exit from the economic community are not yet known, the entire transport sector is worried about its future. “Can you imagine the time they will waste at the borders? And then, the visa will not be free, the cost of transport will increase, there will be enormous losses on the corridor,” says Emmanuel Abegnou, general secretary of the Togolese Trade Union Confederation of Workers.

After the announcement of the exit of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger from ECOWAS, the reactions are linked, with the question of the consequences for West African road hauliers at the center.…

Truck drivers “very worried” about the exit of Mali, Burkina and Niger from ECOWAS

After the announcement of the exit of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger from ECOWAS, reactions followed one another, with the question of the consequences for West African road hauliers at the center. If the conditions and timetable for exit from the economic community are not yet known, the entire transport sector is worried about its future.

Listen - 01:11

The exit from ECOWAS of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger could complicate trade and worries transporters, because they are crossroads for road transport. Here Trucks loaded with goods are stuck at the Nigeria-Niger border in Jibia, Nigeria, Monday, August 7, 2023. © Mohammed Babangida / AP

By: RFI Follow

Free movement of people, capital, but also goods:

ECOWAS

has many advantages for road hauliers. These benefits

are now at risk of being removed

“

If we reintroduce the visa problem, can you imagine the time they will waste at the borders? And then, the visa will not be free, the cost of transport will increase, there will be enormous losses on the corridor , explains Emmanuel Abegnou, general secretary of the

Togolese

Trade Union Confederation of Workers,

speaking to

Arthur Ponchelet

of the Economy department.

. Really, we are very worried.

Especially since

Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger

are crossroads for

West African

road transport .

Given their status as landlocked countries, “

these are countries which consume a lot (of goods) coming from other countries, they use ports

,” indicates Moudachirou Bachabi, general secretary of the General Confederation of Workers of

Benin

. There are many elements which mean that if these countries put themselves in this position, trade will be redirected. It is still a market of great importance for the border countries who will have to deal with it from now on.

The truck unions are worried, demanding rapid clarifications from ECOWAS. Coincidentally with the calendar, several of them met on Tuesday January 30 in Lomé: the recent announcements from the

Sahel

States inevitably occupied the discussions.

And truckers aren't the only ones concerned about this decision. Nationals living in the sub-region, particularly in Côte d'Ivoire, fear losing the advantages linked to belonging to this community space.

Are we not going to introduce a residence permit for these countries which have left ECOWAS? For us, who are strangers here, it will affect us.

01:24

Report: in Abidjan, the concern of Malian and Nigerien nationals

Bineta Diagne

Read alsoCédéao: the departure of Mali, Niger and Burkina comes after months of tension

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ECOWAS
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Truck drivers “very worried” about the exit of Mali, Burkina and Niger from ECOWAS

Truck drivers “very worried” about the exit of Mali, Burkina and Niger from ECOWAS

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