ASHENEWS reports that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has lifted sanctions, travel, commercial and economic hitherto imposed on Niger Republic, Mali and Burkina Faso.
The sanctions on Nigeria’s neighbouring Niger Republic were aimed at reversing the coup staged in the country last year, a senior official announced Saturday.
The junta, in a statement on February 1, 2024, condemned the Nigerian government’s position for not recognizing its sovereignty and freedom to join or exit any organization at will.
It further said Nigeria government’s actions since the military coup in Niger Republic, were not representative of its neighbouring Nigerian people but “a misguided few in power, acting in alignment with the agenda of some Western powers with malicious intentions.”
ASHENEWS recalls that after the military takeover in Niger, other ECOWAS countries led by Nigeria, imposed sanctions on Niger, and the lingering crisis within the bloc, has resulted in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger’s announcement that they have exited the bloc, a position that the ECOWAS body reacted, insisting that Niger follows a one-year notice to be legally valid.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Nigeriens abroad expresses its surprise at the denial of reality and international law in which the Nigerian authorities seem to be moving in refusing to admit for the sovereign Republic of Niger, the ability to withdraw from regional organization which, moreover, has been truly diverted from its noble missions and no longer meets the legitimate aspirations of the Nigerien people and all the peoples of the Alliance of Sahel States.”
According to the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Alieu Touray, the sanctions will be lifted after the bloc’s meeting in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.
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He said the aim is to address existential threats facing the region as well as implore three junta-led nations that have quit the bloc to rescind their decision.
According Tauray, “The sanctions that we contemplated might help lead our brothers to the negotiating table have become a harsh stumbling block”.
The lifting of the sanctions on Niger is “on purely humanitarian grounds” to ease the suffering caused as a result, Touray told reporters. “There are targeted (individual) sanctions as well as political sanctions that remain in force,” he added.
