7 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Executive Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Omar Touray, announced this Sunday the imposition of a visa requirement for citizens of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, who on Saturday announced the creation of the so-called Confederation of the Alliance of Sahel States, an association between the three countries detached from ECOWAS.
The Gambian diplomat opened the ordinary summit of heads of state and government of ECOWAS, which is being held this Sunday in Abuja (Nigeria), with this statement, where the reaction to the declaration of this confederation, orchestrated by the military leaders of the three countries, will play a predominant role.
Similarly, Touray has warned that citizens of the affected countries will not be able to set up companies as stipulated in the ECOWAS charter and will be fully subject to the respective national laws.
Touray, however, took the opportunity to warn of the risk of “disintegration” represented by the decision — “irrevocable,” according to military leaders — for these three countries to leave the organization.
“Our populations benefit from freedom of movement in our area, as well as the advantage of our common market of more than 400 million inhabitants. It is clear that disintegration will not only disrupt the freedom of movement and settlement of people, but will also worsen insecurity in the region,” he warned.
The signatories of the confederation — Nigerien general Abdourahmane Tiani, Burkinabe captain Ibrahim Traoré and Malian colonel Assimi Goita — announced on Saturday after a summit in Niamey (Niger) their decision to “move towards greater integration between the member states of the Alliance of Sahel States” with the primary objective of facilitating the “free movement of people, goods and services,” strengthening military cooperation and the possible creation of a regional central bank and currency.
According to sources from Radio France Internationale (RFI), the summit began with a two-hour closed-door meeting where the participants agreed on a common line for dealing with this new entity, which will be reflected in a final communiqué.
According to the station’s sources, ECOWAS is preparing tough measures against the military leaders. “We were expecting their announcement. There were two options, either to resume negotiations or to confirm their departure. They have chosen the latter, so they will have to accept the consequences,” they warn.
Add Comment