7 MAJOR REASONS WHY ECOWAS LIFTED SANCTIONS ON MALI, NIGER AND BURKINA FASO.

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‘ECOWAS LIFTS SANCTION ON MALI, NIGER, AND BURKINA FASO” IS WHAT I HEAR IN THE MEDIA SPACE. FIND OUT IN THIS POST BY THE NISCOMPRESS TEAM THE MAJOR REASONS WHY THE ECONOMIC AND TRAVEL SANCTIONS WERE LIFTED. READ THE FULL DETAILS BELOW.

The ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES. has lifted the ban placed on NIGER, MALi, AND BURKINA FASO today at their meeting in ABUJA.

The July 2023 military putsch was the fifth successful one in Nig. since its independence from France in 1960.

In the July 2023 coup, the presidential guard removed and detained democratically-elected President Mohamed Bazoum.

ECOWAS Commission’s chairman, Omar Touray, announced the lifting of the sanctions at the end of the Extraordinary Session of the Heads of State and Governments of their member countries.

It has also suspended the freezing of all financial transactions between ECOWAS states and Niger, including transactions relating to the bloc’s central bank and the unfreezing of all of Niger’s assets at EBID.

Touray said the move is “based on humanitarian considerations due to lent and the approaching month of Ramadan.”

The authority also lifted sanctions on the election of Mali citizens to its positions. It also lifted sanctions on Guinea, inviting all four countries to attend technical consultative meetings of the union going forward.

“The Authority has resolved to lift with immediate effect sanctions imposed on Niger and has lifted the closure of land and air borders between it and ECOWAS member countries.

“No-Fly-Zone of all commercial flights to and from Niger is to be lifted. Suspension of all commercial and financial transactions between member states and Niger is to be lifted.

“Freezing of all service transactions including utility services is to be lifted. ​

“Freezing of assets of Niger in their Central Bank is to be lifted. Freezing of assets of Niger and the state’s enterprises and parastatals in commercial banks is to be lifted,’’ he said.

​Mr Touray said Niger had also been exempted from suspension of all financial assistance and transactions as well as the travel ban placed on its officials and their family members.

​He explained that humanitarian considerations during the Lenten period and the upcoming holy month of Ramadan contributed to the lifting of the sanctions.

The Authority​, he said, also lifted sanctions regarding the recruitment of Malian citizens in statutory and professional positions within their union.

“The Authority has also resolved to lift financial and economic sanctions on the Republic of Guinea.

“It instructed the President of the Commission to invite Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, and Guinea to attend the technical, consultative,, and security meetings of the union.

“The authority calls on their institutions, member states, and other regional institutions to implement these decisions,’’ Mr Touray said.

Earlier, ECOWAS chairman Bola Tinubu said the bloc had to rethink its strategy in its bid to get countries to restore constitutional order and urged Niger, and other countries “not to perceive our organization as the enemy”.
ECOWAS closed borders and imposed strict measures on Niger last year after soldiers detained President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 and set up a transitional government, one of a series of recent military takeovers that have exposed the bloc’s inability to halt democratic backsliding.

The sanctions have forced Niger, already one of the world’s poorest countries, to slash government spending and default on debt payments of more than $500 million.
In its communique, the union repeated its call for the release of Bazoum and requested that the junta to provide an “acceptable transition timetable”.
Niger’s coup followed two each in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso over the past three years, leaving a swathe of territory in the hands of military governments that have also moved to distance themselves from former colonial ruler France and other Western allies. The military also seized power in Guinea in 2021.

the union also imposed sanctions on Mali in a bid to hasten its return to constitutional order, although they were lifted in 2022.
The three countries have called ECOWAS’s sanctions strategy illegal and grounds for their decision to leave the bloc immediately without abiding by usual withdrawal terms.
The three have started cooperating under a pact known as the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) and sought to form a confederation. However, it is not clear how closely they plan to align political, economic and security interests as they struggle to contain a decade-old battle with Islamist insurgents.