The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) failed to support Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali in their fight against terrorism and violated its own values by imposing sanctions, according to Burkina Faso’s temporary leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore.
In an interview with Cameroonian journalist Alain Foka, Traore said the regional organisation was founded with the objective of “integrating peoples, promoting development, the economy, solidarity, and mutual aid,”
“Unfortunately, with the passage of time, the organization has lost these values. Today, the facts are clear. For more than a decade, Mali and Niger have been at war with terrorism. And in Burkina Faso, we’ve been at war for almost a decade. We have never received any aid from this organization,” said President Traore.
Furthermore, Traore claimed that ECOWAS does not follow its own standards, particularly when applying sanctions that are not outlined in its founding charter.
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“The first to violate these texts are these so-called democrats. We’re leaving, but we remain pan-African,” he stated. He then revealed that sometimes they borrow weapons and return them after fighting but that Russia and Iran sell whatever they want to them.”
The leader went on to emphasise that the choice to quit was carefully deliberated.
“It’s not out of the blue to turn your back on an organization, but it’s the result of a thorough analysis,” the head of state admitted. “If it were a fit of anger, we would have done it a long time ago. We took the time to analyze the situation, weigh a lot of things and finally make a decision.”
Mali and Burkina Faso then sent a “formal notification” of their departure to the community.
These countries’ relations with ECOWAS have deteriorated since the military seized control in Mali in 2020, Burkina Faso in 2022, and Niger in 2023. The organisation has slapped severe penalties on the latter and threatened to use military force to restore ousted Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum. ECOWAS has also suspended the three countries from its various bodies.
For its part, ECOWAS stated that it was prepared for a “negotiated solution” and emphasised that the three nations were vital members of the Sub-Saharan community.
