The authorities of Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali have called for their reintegration into the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) after being suspended following coups d’état in these countries in recent years.
The foreign ministers of Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali, Olivia Rouamba, Morissanda Kouyate and Abdoulaye Diop, respectively, held a summit meeting in the Burkinabe capital, Ouagadougou, where they agreed to join forces to try to achieve their reintegration into these blocs.
The joint communiqué issued after the summit states that the three countries «coordinate efforts and carry out common initiatives for the withdrawal of the suspension measures and other restrictions», including the economic sanctions imposed against these three countries.
Thus, they have indicated that the AU and ECOWAS measures «affect populations already affected by insecurity and political instability» and «deprive» both organizations «of the contribution of the three countries, necessary to overcome the major challenges».
The ministers also stressed that these measures «represent an attack on subregional and African solidarity, which is at the heart of integration, regional and continental cooperation».
In this sense, they regretted that the sanctions, «imposed in a mechanical manner», «do not take into account the deep and complex causes of the political changes», in reference to the social unrest that preceded the wave of uprisings in these countries due to the increase in insecurity and the deepening of the economic and social crisis.
«The suspension decisions impede the participation of these countries in ECOWAS and AU bodies, particularly those addressing major challenges such as security, humanitarian issues and sustainable economic development,» the joint communiqué, signed by the three ministers, stresses.
They also advocated «the search for endogenous solutions to the challenges facing these countries», before expressing their readiness to «examine any partnership that respects their sovereignty and responds to the needs of their populations».
«In the context of the fight against insecurity in the Sahel-Saharan band, the Burkinabe, Guinean and Malian delegations stressed the need to combine their efforts and those of the countries of the subregion and the region to tackle this scourge,» they said.
They called for «coherence» in actions «at the regional level, on the basis of bilateral operations already underway», while calling for «institutionalizing a permanent framework for consultation between the three countries» and the launching of «political and diplomatic consultations at the highest level on the Bamako-Conakry-Ouagadougou axis».
Finally, they reaffirmed their «commitment» to «the objectives and principles of ECOWAS and the AU» and to «respond to the aspirations of the populations» in the three countries, including programs «for the development of trade, transport, the procurement of basic necessities, professional transformation, rural development, mining, culture, the arts and the fight against insecurity».
Mali has been the scene of two coups d’état — in August 2020 and May 2021 — notably because of increasing insecurity, a similar case to Burkina Faso, which suffered an uprising in January 2022, followed by a palace coup in October to topple the hitherto leader of the military junta.
In the case of Guinea, the September 2021 coup stemmed from rising popular unrest and opposition criticism of the then president, Alpha Condé, after he won a third term despite a constitutional limit of two terms. However, the expansion of the jihadist threat from the Sahel to the Gulf of Guinea has set off alarm bells in Conakry.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
