Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger promise visa-free travel

Three West African states ruled by military leaders have announced visa-free travel and residency rights for citizens of the 15-member regional bloc Ecowas, ahead of the trio leaving the group.

The leaders of the states – Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger – said the visa and residency decision was made in the spirit of friendship and to strengthen centuries-old ties between African people.

The trio plan to withdraw from Ecowas in January after rejecting the bloc’s demands to restore democratic rule.

Ecowas leaders are meeting in Nigeria to discuss the decision, with fears that their withdrawal would be a major blow to regional unity and efforts to strengthen economic and security cooperation.

At the opening of the summit, Ecowas Commission head Omar Touray said their “imminent exit” was “disappointing”, but he wanted to “commend the ongoing mediation efforts”, the AFP news agency reported.

Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has spearheaded efforts to persuade the military junta to remain in the bloc, but they have refused.

After a ministerial-level meeting on 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 founding members of Ecowas in 1975.

With their planned departure, the bloc will lose 76 million of its 446 million people and more than half of its total geographic 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 chairman of the new alliance, Mali’s military ruler Assimi Goïta, said the right of Ecowas citizens to “enter, circulate, stay, establish and leave the territory” of the new bloc would be upheld.

His statement was seen as a signal to Ecowa leaders that Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger wanted to maintain good relations despite leaving the bloc.

The three states notified Ecowas in January 2023 that they will withdraw in a year, adhering to the timeline set by the bloc 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 coup and suspended their membership in the hope that they will restore civilian rule.

But the coup leaders dug in their heels and turned towards Russia.

They accuse Ecowas of being too close to Western powers and increasingly rely on Russia to fight armed jihadists waging an insurgency in the region.