Nigerian president re-elected as ECOWAS chairman amid tensions with Sahel juntas

8 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu was re-elected as President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Sunday, the same day that it was announced that visa requirements would be imposed on 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 that is separate from ECOWAS.

“I have agreed to continue to serve the great members and the great minds committed to democratic values ​​and our path in the region,” Tinubu said during his address at the 65th Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS held in Abuja, according to Nigerian news agency NAN.

The countries of the organisation have taken this decision trusting that Tinubu will guarantee “continuity” and “coherence” to the objectives in terms of security, reconciliation and development, as they consider he has done during his first year in office.

He has also appointed President Bassirou Diomaye Faye of Senegal and President Faure Gnassingbé of Togo as special envoys to Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, with the aim of reducing the recent estrangement between these three countries, governed by military juntas, and the rest of the ECOWAS countries. Faye has previously shown a favourable position to dialogue with these three nations for a reconciliation between both parties.

The military leaders of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali have concluded their first summit in the Nigerien capital, Niamey, by signing a treaty marking the birth of the so-called Confederation of the Alliance of Sahel States, a political, military and economic alliance between three countries united by the rule of a military junta that emerged following a coup d’état and their distancing from regional bodies and the West in favour of Russia.

The Sahel countries have experienced a significant increase in insecurity since 2015, both due to the presence of Al-Qaeda’s branch in the Sahel, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), and other jihadist groups linked to the Islamic State, which has led to a wave of internally displaced persons and refugees to other countries in the region.