Three African countries announced their withdrawal from ECOWAS
“Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have announced that they are leaving the ECOWAS regional bloc,” the material states.
Niger's military-appointed Prime Minister Ali Mahamane Lamine Zein on Thursday accused ECOWAS of dishonesty after the failure of a negotiating mission expected to arrive in Niamey on Thursday. The association's delegation explained the absence from the negotiations as a technical malfunction of the aircraft.
In December 2023, the Prime Minister of Niger said in an interview with RIA Novosti that the country expects to resume negotiations with ECOWAS in January and calls for an early lifting of sanctions.
At the end of July 2023, the Niger military announced on national television that President Mohamed Bazoum had been removed from power. The commander of the presidential guard, General Abdurakhman Tchiani, appeared on state TV as the head of the formed “National Council for the Defense of the Fatherland.” Leaders of most Western countries and the regional organization ECOWAS condemned the coup. In early August, participants in an emergency meeting of the Chiefs of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the ECOWAS countries, held in Abuja, adopted a plan in the event of military intervention in Niger.
Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, where in September they signed a charter establishing an alliance of Sahel states to “create a collective defense architecture.”
