REGIONAL INTEGRATION GROUPS CALLS FOR NIGER, MALI AND BURKINA FASO’S RETURN TO ECOWAS
The West Africa Democracy Solidarity Network (WADEMOS) has called on the Africa Union to intervene in bringing back Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso to ECOWAS regional bloc and Prevent further dis-integration.
In January, the three Sahel countries had officially communicated their decision to quit the ECOWAS after they were sanctioned because of coups that took place in their countries
Speaking at a diaspora community forum in Nigeria’s capital, the group expressed worry over the lack of governance in the west Africa sub region which poses a threat to democracy.
The West Africa Democracy Solidarity Network Coordinator, Paul Osei Kuffour, highlighted the impact of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso’s withdrawal from the bloc, saying it is taking a toll on their citizens.
He said the organization is mostly concerned about the disintegration that the current crisis could cause to the sub region, adding that It is unclear how leaders would coordinate the security response to the rise in terrorism and violent extremism in the Sahel.
He urged the ECOWAS Council of The Wise to also take the front seat towards reintegrating the sister states into the nearly 50-year-old bloc.
Kuffour said “Indeed, we met with ECOWAS yesterday. We met with the political affairs division, Peace and Security Division, specifically the democracy and good governance unit of that division, and we had a very frank conversation”.
“I think ECOWAS recognizes the need to hold on to the stability of the sub region, and they are putting forward a lot of measures to ensure that the sub region remains intact and unified as it is.
“Some of the recommendations that we put forward in our conversation was to ECOWAS to consider advancing or bringing on board other multilateral actors, like the African Union and also using or exploring the opportunity that we have around the Council of the wise to complement what they are doing in terms of mediating the intended exit of the countries”.
“Recently, the United Nations, led by one of his commissioners, was in the Sahel region to have a conversation with the head of the junta. And I think these complementary interventions are quite significant, but they need to be coordinated” he said.
They also emphasized the need for a coordinated security response to address terrorism and violent extremism in the region.
The stakeholders say despite the dis-integration from the regional bloc, ECOWAS is still carrying out people oriented projects in the three countries.
Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso contribute around 10 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the sub region.
Several efforts to bring them back to the bloc has been unsuccessful. Will the call for the African Union to intervene yield any positive result?
