Three West African states ruled by military leaders announced visa-free travel and residency rights for citizens in the 15-member regional bloc ECOWAS, before the trio left the group.
The leaders of the states – Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger – said the visa and residence decision was taken in the spirit of friendship and to strengthen age-old ties between African people.
The trio plans to withdraw from ECOWAS in January after refusing to give in to the bloc’s demands to restore democratic rule.
ECOWAS leaders are meeting in Nigeria to discuss the decision amid fears their withdrawal would be a major blow to regional unity and efforts to boost economic and security cooperation.
Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has led efforts to convince military juntas to remain in the bloc, but they have refused.
After a ministerial-level meeting Friday in Niger’s capital Niamey, the three states said in a joint statement that their decision was “irreversible.”
Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger were the founders of ECOWAS in 1975.
With their planned departure, the bloc will lose 76 million of its 446 million inhabitants and more than half of its total geographical land area.
This is the first split in ECOWAS, with the three breakaway states forming their own bloc, the Alliance of Sahel States.
In a statement, the new alliance’s chairman, Mali’s military ruler Assimi Goïta, said the right of ECOWAS citizens to “enter, circulate, reside, settle and leave the territory” of the new bloc would be upheld would stay.
His statement was seen as a signal to ECOWAS leaders that Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger wanted to maintain good relations despite their departure from the bloc.
The three states told ECOWAS in January 2023 that they would withdraw in a year, meeting the timeline the bloc has set for states that decide to leave.
Relations between the bloc and the three countries have been tense after military coups took place in Niger in July, Burkina Faso in 2022 and Mali in 2020.
ECOWAS condemned the coups and suspended their membership, hoping they would restore civilian rule.
But the coup leaders dug in their heels and focused on Russia.
They accuse ECOWAS of being too close to Western powers, and are increasingly relying on Russia to fight armed jihadists waging an insurgency in the region.
You may also be interested in:
[Getty Images/BBC]
Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfricaon Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at BBCAfrica
