As reactions continue to trail the withdrawal of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), International Relations experts have said the move will amount to an imminent extinction for the West African body.
The three military-led West African countries had in a statement on Sunday said their immediate withdrawal from the West African body was informed by the apparent failure of the community to fulfill its founding fathers’ vision for effective regional integration.
The three countries accused the regional body of “failing to support their fight against terrorism and insecurity while imposing illegal, illegitimate, inhumane and irresponsible sanctions”.
“After 49 years, the valiant peoples of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger regretfully and with great disappointment observe that the (ECOWAS) organization has drifted from the ideals of its founding fathers and the spirit of Pan-Africanism. The organization notably failed to assist these states in their existential fight against terrorism and insecurity,” Colonel Amadou Abdramane, Niger junta spokesman, had said in the statement.
But speaking with Nigerian Tribune on Sunday, a former Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Professor Bola Akinterinwa, and the acting Director of Research and Studies at NIIA, Efem Ubi, said the move by the three West African bodies had been long foretold due to the multi-dimensional failings of the ECOWAS body in meeting its founding mandates and expectations to its members.
Both men argued that instead of finding lasting solutions to the many factors that are orchestrating military coups in the region, ECOWAS has been fighting and inflicting economic sanctions in a bid to force deposed democratic governments back in their countries.
Professor Akinterinwa noted that the withdrawal was symptomatic of the abject lack of focus and identity crisis afflicting the West African body.
“It is more of the expression of an organization without focus. It is more of an expression of an organization that now depends on foreigners. It no longer reflects its personality and integrity. Also, the body doesn’t reflect objectivity of purpose. So when we say it is failure, it is not just failure,” said Akinterinwa, the President/Director-General of the Bolytag Centre for International Diplomacy and Strategic Studies (BOCIDASS).
Corroborating this, Ubi said, “The implication is very simple. The withdrawal signals the fact that ECOWAS has ceased to exist. That is what is important. Let’s not deceive ourselves. If out of 15 ECOWAS members, three countries have withdrawn their membership, it means you have 12 members left. Will you then still call that ECOWAS? Do the remaining 12 states make up the whole number that make up the West African sub-region? So, invariably, it signals the extinction of ECOWAS, which was what I was talking about last year when I asked ECOWAS to tread with caution about its intervention in the Niger democratic government collapse. I said then that the most probable solution would be a diplomatic one.
“Right now, with this decision by the three countries to leave and form an alliance of their own, I think it is important for the body to start negotiating with them and the negotiation must be devoid of military invasion. It should be diplomatic and must be a negotiation that will take into consideration a lot of factors that are creating this kind of scenario.
He added, “From now on, ECOWAS should be addressing the root cause of the military coups in the region and not the symptoms. They should be looking for answers and solutions to these problems. If not, this is just the beginning of the depletion that will besiege the West African body.
“ECOWAS has been aligning the rivalry of superpowers to undermine its very own existence, which is posing a serious threat to its future. If you listen to the speeches of the three countries’ leaders, you will see that they all said the same thing. They are asking the imperialists to leave, and they are tired of being subjugated, undermined, and subordinated. They said they want to start managing their affairs. Come to think of it, what is territorial sovereignty all about?”
