ECOWAS

ECOWAS

Subject: International Relations

Context: West African nations imposed sanctions if Niger’s coup leaders fail to reinstate ousted President Mohammed Bazoum within a week.

The 15-nation ECOWAS bloc’s response to the Sahel region’s seventh coup of recent years came as crowds in Niger’s capital Niamey burned French flags and stoned the former colonial power’s mission, drawing tear gas from police.

About ECOWAS:

• It is a regional political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa.
• Established in 1975, with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos.
• The goal of ECOWAS is to achieve “collective self-sufficiency” for its member states by creating a single large trade bloc by building a full economic and trading union.
• It also serves as a peacekeeping force in the region.
• Considered one of the pillar regional blocs of the continent-wide African Economic Community (AEC).

ECOWAS includes two sub-regional blocs:

• The West African Economic and Monetary Union is an organisation of eight, mainly French-speaking states.
• The West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ), established in 2000, comprises six mainly English-speaking countries.

Sahel region of Africa

• It is a semi-arid region of western and north-central Africa extending from Senegal eastward to Sudan.
• It forms a transitional zone between the arid Sahara (desert) to the north and the belt of humid savannas to the south.
• The Sahel stretches from Senegal on the Atlantic coast, through parts of Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Sudan to Eritrea on the Red Sea coast.

CAN SANCTIONS WORK?

Similar sanctions were imposed by ECOWAS on Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea following coups in those countries in the past three years.

Although the financial sanctions led to defaults on debt – in Mali in particular – such measures have tended to hurt civilians more than the military leaders who seized power in some of the world’s poorest countries, political analysts say. Timelines to restore civilian rule have been agreed in all three countries, but there has been little progress implementing them.

Why Niger is important?

Niger has been a key ally in Western campaigns against insurgents linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State in the Sahel, and there are concerns that the coup could open the door to greater Russian influence there. Thousands of French troops were forced to withdraw from neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso following coups there.

Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world, receiving close to $2 billion a year in official development assistance, according to the World Bank.