At their Sunday meeting in Abuja, the chiefs of state of ECOWAS bemoaned the “lack of progress in interactions” with the recently installed coup leaders in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Nigerien.
Bassirou Diomaye Faye, the president of Senegal and the ECOWAS “facilitator” for West Africa, made an appeal on Monday for peaceful discussion and reconciliation with the three nations that have lately broken away from the group.
On Saturday, the military chiefs of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso established their own confederation after seceding from the Economic Community of West African States earlier this year.
At their Sunday meeting in Abuja, the chiefs of state of ECOWAS bemoaned the “lack of progress in interactions” with the recently installed coup leaders in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Nigerien.
“We cannot stand idly by”, Senegal’s President Faye said in a video posted Monday.
“Our responsibility is to work on bringing everyone closer and reconciliation — to ensure there is room for dialogue”, he said, vowing that the bloc will work towards peace.
The three countries’ decision to leave was fuelled in part by their accusation that France was manipulating ECOWAS and not providing enough support for anti-jihadist efforts.
ECOWAS has warned the region faced “disintegration”, though its efforts to bring the seceding countries closer so far have failed.
Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have called their withdrawals “irreversible”.
ECOWAS appointed Senegal’s president as a “facilitator” in negotiations with the three states, alongside Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe.
President Faye stressed that, on paper, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger remain members for another year, as per article 91 of the organisation’s founding treaty.
“I hope that by the end of the (one-year) notice period, we will have had enough conversations to reconcile views and strengthen the organisation so that it can better tackle our shared challenges,” Faye said.
ECOWAS announced on Sunday that it would draft an “prospective emergency plan” to “address any contingency” in the tense relations with the breakaway countries.