The West African regional bloc, ECOWAS, has lifted travel, commercial, and economic sanctions on Niger, aimed at reversing the coup staged in the country last year. The lifting of the sanctions is “on purely humanitarian grounds” to ease the suffering caused as a result. The summit of the 15-nation regional economic bloc in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, comes at a critical time when the 49-year-old bloc’s future is threatened as it struggles with possible disintegration and a recent surge in coups fueled by discontent over the performance of elected governments whose citizens barely benefit from mineral resources.
The top of the agenda is the recent decision by Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger to leave ECOWAS, or the Economic Community of West African States, over “inhumane sanctions.” This move is unprecedented since the bloc was established in 1975 and grew to become the region’s top political and economic authority. Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, current chairman of ECOWAS, urged regional leaders to reconsider the decision and not perceive the organization as the enemy.
The summit is also expected to review the harsh sanctions imposed on Niger. One of the bloc’s founding leaders and Nigeria’s former military ruler, Yakubu Gowon, urged regional leaders to lift the sanctions, noting that the bloc is “more than a coalition of states (but) is a community established for the good of our people.”
In the past year, the bloc has struggled to resolve the region’s most pressing challenge: the Sahel, the vast, arid expanse south of the Sahara Desert that stretches across several West African countries, faces growing violence from Islamic extremists and rebels, which in turn has caused soldiers to depose elected governments.
(AP)
