Menu
Latest
Menu
Latest
News

ECOWAS toughens position towards member states with military rulers

29 March 2022

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) announced on Friday, 25 March, that it would grant Mali between 12 and 16 months to arrange elections and threatened Guinea and Burkina Faso with additional punitive sanctions.

The 15-nation ECOWAS maintained the sanctions imposed on Mali on 9 January 2022, after the military junta declared its intention to remain in power until 2025, thus abandoning plans to hold elections scheduled by the end of February 2022. West Africa's main political and economic bloc called on Mali's transitional military authorities to follow the recommended 12–16-month transition period leading to the return of a civilian government.

ECOWAS chairman, Jean Claude Kassi Brou, also urged the Burkinabe military junta to shorten its proposed 36-month transition to a "more acceptable timeframe". Further sanctions would be adopted if Burkina Faso did not release former President Roch Marc Kaboré by 31 March 2022.

The regional organisation specified in its communiqué that in case of non-compliance with its demands, members of the transitional authorities of Burkina Faso will be subject to "individual sanctions".

As for Guinea, where the military has been governing since a military coup in September 2021, ECOWAS has expressed concern about the duration of the transition as the six-month timetable for the holding of elections has not yet been honoured.

The financial assets of members of the Guinean junta and their family members had already been frozen following the removal of President Alpha Conde from office last September. Jean Claude Kassi Brou warned of the possibility of severe sanctions if Guinea misses its April 25 deadline.

Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea are all in the throes of political and security crises and have all witnessed military coups since August 2020. ECOWAS is therefore currently trying to put pressure on the military juntas to bring power back into civilian hands.

Since January 2022, the toll of economic sanctions on Mali's economy and employment has been so severe that the country has been unable to pay about $180 million in debt repayments. Sanctions on Mali have been maintained despite Thursday's ruling by the Court of Justice of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), demanding the suspension of sanctions on Thursday, 24 January.

The potential impact of these sanctions on poor, landlocked countries has caused great concern, but also widespread resentment, beyond Mali, against regional organisations.

Sources: CommonSpace.eu with Reuters (London), France 24 (Paris) and other media outlets
Picture: ECOWAS chair delivering final statetment on Friday 25 March; Twitter: @ADFmagazine

Related articles

Editor's choice
News
Borrell tells the European Parliament that the situation in Afghanistan was critical, but the EU will remain engaged
Trending

Borrell tells the European Parliament that the situation in Afghanistan was critical, but the EU will remain engaged

9 June 2021
Borrell underlined that the European Union will make every effort to support the peace process and to remain a committed partner to the Afghan people. "Of course, we will have to take into account the evolving situation, but disengagement is not an option.  We are clear on that: there is no alternative to a negotiated political settlement, through inclusive peace talks.
Editor's choice
News
NATO Chief says war is on Europe's doorstep, and warns against complacency
Trending

NATO Chief says war is on Europe's doorstep, and warns against complacency

12 December 2025
Russia could attack a NATO country within the next five years, the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, said in a stark new warning. "NATO's own defences can hold for now," Rutte warned in Berlin, but conflict was "next door" to Europe, and he feared "too many are quietly complacent, and too many don't feel the urgency, too many believe that time is on our side. "Russia is already escalating its covert campaign against our societies," Rutte said in a speech in Germany. "We must be prepared for the scale of war our grandparents or great-grandparents endured." Earlier this month, Russia's President Vladimir Putin said his country was not planning to go to war with Europe, but it was ready "right now" if Europe wanted to - or started a war. But similar reassurances were given by Moscow in 2022, just before 200,000 Russian troops crossed the border and invaded Ukraine. Putin has accused European countries of hindering US efforts to bring peace in Ukraine - a reference to the role Ukraine's European allies have recently played in trying to change a US peace plan to end the war, whose initial draft was seen as favouring Russia. But Putin was not sincere, Nato's secretary-general said in the German capital, Berlin. Supporting Ukraine, he added, was a guarantee for European security. "Just imagine if Putin got his way; Ukraine under the boot of Russian occupation, his forces pressing against a longer border with Nato, and the significantly increased risk of an armed attack against us." Russia's economy has been on a war footing for more than three years now - its factories churn out ever more supplies of drones, missiles and artillery shells. According to a recent report by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Russia has been producing each month around 150 tanks, 550 infantry fighting vehicles, 120 Lancet drones and more than 50 artillery pieces. The UK, and most of its Western allies, are simply not anywhere near this point. Analysts say it would take years for Western Europe's factories to come close to matching Russia's mass-production of weapons. "Allied defence spending and production must rise rapidly, our armed forces must have what they need to keep us safe," the Nato chief said.

Popular

Editor's choice
News
NATO Chief says war is on Europe's doorstep, and warns against complacency
Trending

NATO Chief says war is on Europe's doorstep, and warns against complacency

12 December 2025
Russia could attack a NATO country within the next five years, the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, said in a stark new warning. "NATO's own defences can hold for now," Rutte warned in Berlin, but conflict was "next door" to Europe, and he feared "too many are quietly complacent, and too many don't feel the urgency, too many believe that time is on our side. "Russia is already escalating its covert campaign against our societies," Rutte said in a speech in Germany. "We must be prepared for the scale of war our grandparents or great-grandparents endured." Earlier this month, Russia's President Vladimir Putin said his country was not planning to go to war with Europe, but it was ready "right now" if Europe wanted to - or started a war. But similar reassurances were given by Moscow in 2022, just before 200,000 Russian troops crossed the border and invaded Ukraine. Putin has accused European countries of hindering US efforts to bring peace in Ukraine - a reference to the role Ukraine's European allies have recently played in trying to change a US peace plan to end the war, whose initial draft was seen as favouring Russia. But Putin was not sincere, Nato's secretary-general said in the German capital, Berlin. Supporting Ukraine, he added, was a guarantee for European security. "Just imagine if Putin got his way; Ukraine under the boot of Russian occupation, his forces pressing against a longer border with Nato, and the significantly increased risk of an armed attack against us." Russia's economy has been on a war footing for more than three years now - its factories churn out ever more supplies of drones, missiles and artillery shells. According to a recent report by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Russia has been producing each month around 150 tanks, 550 infantry fighting vehicles, 120 Lancet drones and more than 50 artillery pieces. The UK, and most of its Western allies, are simply not anywhere near this point. Analysts say it would take years for Western Europe's factories to come close to matching Russia's mass-production of weapons. "Allied defence spending and production must rise rapidly, our armed forces must have what they need to keep us safe," the Nato chief said.