DAKAR: Mali has reaffirmed its exit “without delay” from the West African bloc, ECOWAS, saying it was not bound by the organisation’s one-year timeframe for withdrawal, according to a foreign ministry document seen by AFP on Wednesday.

Bamako’s military government announced its withdrawal from ECOWAS on Jan 28, along with neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

But article 91 of the bloc’s treaty stipulates that member countries remain bound by their obligations for a period of one year after notifying their withdrawal.

“The government of the Republic of Mali is no longer bound (by the) time constraints mentioned in article 91 of the treaty,” the foreign affairs ministry said in a letter to ECOWAS.

The letter said that ECOWAS had rendered the treaty “inoperative” when it failed to meet its obligations by closing member states’ borders with Mali in 2022, denying it access to the sea.

ECOWAS had imposed heavy sanctions on Mali as the bloc tried to push for the early return of civilian government with elections.

“The ministry reiterates the irreversible nature of the government’s decision” to withdraw “without delay from ECOWAS due to the organisation’s violation of its own texts,” the letter claimed.

Alliance of Sahel States

The military regimes in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger announced their immediate withdrawal from ECOWAS in late January, accusing it of posing a threat to their sovereignty.

The regimes have had tense ties with the bloc since coups took place in Niger July 2023, Burkina Faso in 2022 and Mali in 2020.

ECOWAS has sought in vain a swift return of civilian rule in the three countries — which have hardened their positions in recent months and joined forces in an “Alliance of Sahel States”.

Some observers fear the exit of three founding members of the Economic Community of West African States, formed in 1975, could compromise trade.

Abuja meeting today

ECOWAS is to hold a ministerial-level meeting in Abuja on Thursday to discuss the political and security situation in the region. The military regimes in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger had already been suspended by ECOWAS after their civilian governments were overthrown. The regional bloc has tried in vain to impose the return of civilian rule, leading the three capitals to accuse ECOWAS of posing a threat to their sovereignty.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2024