ECOWAS gives withdrawing countries 6 months to reconsider their decision
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has given Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger six months to reconsider their decision to withdraw from the organization.
ECOWAS said in a statement issued after a summit it held today in Abuja that it decided to consider the period from January 29, 2025 (the official exit date of the three countries) to July 29, 2025 as a transitional period and to keep the doors of the Economic Community of West African States open to the three countries.
Earlier, Gambian diplomat Oumar Touray, chairman of the ECOWAS Commission, said at the opening of the summit this morning that although the imminent departure of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger from ECOWAS is disappointing, the group welcomes the ongoing mediation efforts.
Among those who participated in the summit was Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Afai, who was appointed by the West African bloc last July as a mediator with the dissident countries.
Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe also mediated in the crisis, and ECOWAS today authorized them to continue their negotiations with the three countries.
Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, which are part of the Sahel Confederation, announced a day before the ECOWAS summit that they would waive entry visa requirements for citizens of the member countries of the Economic Community of West African States.
Earlier, the foreign ministers of the confederation countries confirmed that the withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States was irreversible, pledging during a meeting in Niamey to continue discussions aimed at agreeing on withdrawal mechanisms.
Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso announced in January 2024 their withdrawal from ECOWAS, considering it a tool used by France, the former colonial power of these three countries, whose ruling military councils expelled their forces from their territories.
