ECOWAS Appoints President Faye To Mediate With Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso Leaders

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has appointed the Senegalese President, Basirou Diomaye Faye as the mediator between ECOWAS and the leaders of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso.

This came to a consensus on Sunday as ECOWAS leaders held a meeting in Abuja, following the first general meeting of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso on Saturday under the newly formed Alliance of Sahel States (AES) regional bloc, held in Niamey, Niger Republic.

Meanwhile, ECOWAS leaders, in their meeting, re-elected President Bola Tinubu as the head of the organisation after his one-year disastrous period of leadership that oversaw the exit of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso.

Following the July 26, 2023, coup in Niger, Tinubu made unapproved attempts for military intervention in Niger, including one that was foiled by the leaking of a top-secret memo, leading to an extended effort to abduct West Africa Weekly’s Editor-in-Chief, David Hundeyin from Ghana.

These events marked the first time in nearly 50 years that the ECOWAS group lost its members in this manner, aside Mauritania. Niger witnessed sanctions imposed by the Nigerian President and ECOWAS Chair, Tinubu, including a violation of the 1964 River Niger treaty by cutting off electricity supply. The sanctions reportedly led to the deaths of premature infants on life support in incubators.

Meanwhile, with the AES newly-formed regional bloc, which solidifies Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso’s treaty, establishing its breakaway from the ECOWAS, President Tinubu has tasked President Faye of Senegal to convince them to reconcile, stating that such breakaway threatens its security.

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Mayowa Durosinmi

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