Ecowas blinks first in coup belt face-off
Who cares about trying to maintain dignity, when putsch comes to shove.
Kiri Rupiah
The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) has suspended its sanctions against Niger, and is easing those against Guinea and Mali. The sanctions were meant to punish putschists for military coups.
A wave of coups d’état has swept the region in recent years, starting with Mali in August 2020 and encompassing unconstitutional changes of power in Chad, Guinea, Mali (again), Burkina Faso, Niger and Gabon.
Ecowas responded to the coups in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Guinea by imposing sanctions. These included the closure of land and air borders with member states, freezing the countries’ financial assets in the region and suspension from the bloc. This, regional leaders said, was meant to compel the military leaders to return the countries to constitutional order.
It has not worked. In some coup-affected countries, the sanctions sparked protests against the regional bloc and in favour of the coup leaders.
It didn’t help that some of the overthrown leaders had not been particularly big on constitutionalism themselves. In a disputed election months before the coup, Guinea’s Alpha Condé had awarded himself a controversial third term. Gabon’s Ali Bongo was overthrown just days after another disputed election in which he was declared winner – never mind that his family had already been in power for 56 years.
Now Ecowas is contending with a “constitutional coup” attempt by one of its stalwarts, Senegal’s Macky Sall, who has controversially postponed the election of his would-be successor. Ecowas has asked Senegal to reverse the delay, but has not proposed sanctions.
“We must re-examine our approach to the quest for constitutional order,” said Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu, the current Ecowas chair, at the start of the emergency meeting that eased the sanctions.
Meanwhile, the military juntas of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have formed a new regional alliance and announced that they might leave Ecowas entirely.
The threat of their exits may have contributed to the decision to relax sanctions.