The Financial Group of West African States (ECOWAS) will maintain an necessary assembly in Accra, Ghana, from April 22 to 23, 2025. The session will deal with the formal withdrawal of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger from the regional physique.
Joel Ahofodji, the Director of Communications at ECOWAS, confirmed that the assembly will focus on the method and affect of the nations’ exit. It’ll additionally have a look at the way it will have an effect on ECOWAS establishments and businesses in these nations. Moreover, different necessary regional points can be addressed in the course of the session.
A supply inside ECOWAS stated that the ministers attending will seemingly approve a plan for the exit course of. This may also set the stage for future talks between ECOWAS and the newly fashioned Alliance of Sahel States (AES), which incorporates Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.
This comes after the three nations introduced their withdrawal in January 2024, which formally took impact in January 2025. Though ECOWAS gave them six extra months to rethink, the nations have firmly determined to go away.
In the meantime, 130 residents from these nations working with ECOWAS have obtained letters informing them of their departure. In keeping with ECOWAS workers guidelines, these staff should go away by September 2025 as a result of they are going to not be eligible to work for ECOWAS after their nations go away.
ECOWAS had initially allowed these staff to remain on as a gesture of goodwill. Nevertheless, with the formal withdrawal occurring, they have to go away by September.
Dr. Omar Alieu Touray, the President of the ECOWAS Fee, confirmed that the withdrawal of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger formally started on January 29, 2025. He stated the subsequent step is to start formal talks about their exit and future cooperation between ECOWAS and the three nations.
Touray added that, regardless of the withdrawal, ECOWAS will proceed working with the AES nations on commerce, safety, and different regional points. He additionally confirmed that the present system permitting free motion of products and other people will stay in place till new preparations are made.
