What changes as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger leave the West African block?

Three countries under the military regime have officially left the regional CERCE of West Africa, after more than a year of diplomatic tensions.

The withdrawal of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger is a blow for ECOWAS, which, at 50, is considered the most important regional group in Africa.

The split was launched after the three outgoing countries refused Ceceas’ requests to restore diplomatic rules.

Wednesday, Ecowas said that he would keep his “open doors” in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, even if they took front with their own block, the Alliance of the States of Sahel (AES by his French acronym).

Ceceas – which means the economic community of West African States – was founded in 1975 with the aim of improving economic and political integration in West Africa.

Before Wednesday’s upheaval, the block had 15 members, including states like Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal.

Citizens of all ECOWAS countries currently have the right to live and work in all member states, while goods can circulate freely.

Relations between Ceceas and the three Sahel countries have been tense since the military seized power in Niger in 2023, Burkina Faso in 2022 and Mali in 2020.

After the coup d’etat of Niger, the Ceceas imposed sanctions paralyzing in the country, such as border closures, a non-theft area for all commercial flights and freezing of the assets of the Central Bank.

Ecowas has also threatened to deploy its forces in Niger to restore the democratic regime.

But this hard line simply reinforced the resolution of the three junta.

Mali and Burkina Faso criticized Ecowas’ inhuman “sanctions and promised to defend Niger if the block intervened militarily.

After being suspended by Ceceas, the three states retaliated by giving an opinion last January that they would withdraw in a year, making the calendar established by the block for the states that decide to leave.

Negotiations between ECOWAS and the junts have since been held – but failed.

The three countries accuse the Cerceas of being too close to the Western powers and rather pivoted Russia.

Depending on the countries that manage, they will now experience greater sovereignty and also an independence of a force which has a foreign program.

But analysts say that Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso could fight outside the block – they are poor and coastal -free countries whose savings depend on their West African neighbors.

Although the Ceceas has established the terms of its future relationship with the three countries, he indicates that he will continue to recognize all passports and identity cards bearing the Ecowas logo held by citizens of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso .

The countries will also remain in the block free trade system.

Likewise, the president of the AES, the military leader of Mali, Assimi Goïta, said last January that the right of the citizens of the Ceceas “enter, circulate, reside, establish and leave the territory” of the new block would be maintained.

Ilyasu Gadu, an expert in international affairs and consultant in the media based in the capital of Nigeria, Abuja, told the BBC: “The three leaders of the junta took action to say:” Yes, we are withdrawing from ECOWAS But we want to maintain our relationships. We will not close our borders because they had to realize that if they did, they would have fired in the foot. “”

Observers of West Africa also fear that withdrawal aggravating security in the region. The Sahel – The semi -arid region just south of the Sahara desert which includes the three outgoing countries – is rooted with jihadist insurrections and now represents “almost half of all the deaths of terrorism on a global scale”, a A senior United Nations official said in April.

Ecowas supported Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in their fight against jihadists, but this aid can now be canceled, observers fear.

Although the Juntas are now receiving weapons and mercenaries from Russia, activists continue to inflict heavy victims on civilians and armed forces.

Cedeas will lose 76 million of 446 million people and more than half of its total geographic area.

There are also concerns that the withdrawal will weaken both regional unit and cooperation in the fight against insurrections.

The split “aggravates a crisis of ECOWAS legitimacy which has often failed the expectations of people in compliance with the rule of law,” the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, ULF the Foundation of the Konrad Adenauer, told the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, ULF The Foundation of the Konrad Adenauer . Associated Press.

“The fact that the three poorest member states have decided to leave the block means that ECOWAS in the eyes of its citizens are even more like a loser in this conflict.”

On Tuesday, some people from the three countries in the countries came out on the street to celebrate the withdrawal.

But not everyone supports the decisions of the juntas.

Omar Hama of Niger said he wanted the three countries to stay in Ceceas, while simultaneously belonging to the AES.

“I would have liked to overcome their differences because we have a common space, the same people with historical similarities and the same economic realities,” he told the BBC.

Fatouma Harber, journalist and blogger living in Mali, fears that the change may cause administrative and economic hassles for her and other citizens of the three countries.

“However, if the Alliance of the States of the Sahel (AES) can really bring us advantages, it would be an excellent thing,” she said.

Zabeirou Issa, who lives in the capital of Mali Bamako, took a firmer position, saying: “Cedeas has no power, it is the Westerners who decide Ceceas leaders. Yes, I am very happy to The decision. “

In Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, Cisse Kabore told the BBC that she wanted her country to remain in Ceceas because now the region “will no longer be united as before”.

Last month, Ecowas said that it would give Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali a period of six months to reconsider their withdrawal.

However, during a press conference on Wednesday, the head of the Cewasa commission, Omar Aliu Touray, said: “Any state can decide to return to the community at any time.”

To consolidate their exit from Ceceas and Stresses their alliance, the three countries said they would start to circulate new AES passports on Wednesday.

They also decided to join forces to create a military unit of 5,000 people to combat jihadist violence that has tormented nations for years.