West African countries approved the withdrawal of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger

Leaders of the West African regional grouping Ecowas approved the withdrawal of the three military-ruled countries from the bloc, but offered them a six-month grace period to review.

Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger plan to withdraw from Ecowas in January after abandoning the bloc’s demand to restore democratic rule.

This is the first time any country has left Ecowas since it was established in 1975 to promote economic and political integration in West Africa.

The three countries that dropped out were founding members, so it’s a major blow to Africa’s most advanced trade bloc.

Currently, citizens of all Ecowas countries have the right to live and work in all member states, and goods can move freely.

Ecowas has not yet said whether it will impose restrictions on people and goods coming from the three departing states, which have formed a new grouping, the Alliance of Sahelian States (AES, from its French acronym).

The Ecowas Commission in Abuja was tasked with working out such issues and how the two blocs should work together in the future.

Last weekend, AES announced visa-free travel and residency rights for Ecowas citizens.

Their leaders said that this decision was taken in the spirit of friendship and strengthening of centuries-old ties between African peoples.

However, these three countries are poor and landlocked, so most migrants move from them to richer coastal countries in West Africa.

Ecowas leaders, meeting in Nigeria on Sunday, said they respected the three Sahel countries’ decision to withdraw, but proposed a six-month transition period.

Between January 29 and July 29, 2025, the trio can be re-admitted to the bloc if they decide to rejoin the community, the Ecowas communique said.

In the meantime, negotiations will continue under the leadership of Senegalese President Bassirou Diamay Fay and Togo Fora Gnassingbe.

Until now, military juntas have refused to stay in the bloc, despite attempts to persuade them.

After a ministerial meeting on Friday in Niger’s capital, Niamey, the three states said in a joint statement that their decision was “irreversible”.

Their withdrawal would be a serious blow to regional unity and efforts to expand economic and security cooperation.

At the opening of the summit, the head of the Ecowas commission, Omar Tourey, said that their “close exit” was “disappointing”, but he wanted to “commend the ongoing mediation efforts”, according to the AFP news agency.

With their planned exit, the bloc will lose 76 million of its 446 million people and more than half of its total geographic territory.

In a statement, the AES chairman, Mali’s military leader Asimi Goita, said the right of Ecowas citizens to “enter, move, reside, establish and leave the territory” of the new bloc would be preserved.

His statement was seen as a signal to Ecowas leaders that Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger want to maintain good relations despite leaving the bloc.

The three states notified Ecowas in January 2023 that they would withdraw after a year, in line with the timeline set by the bloc for states that choose to withdraw.

Relations between the bloc and the three countries have been strained since military coups in Niger in July, Burkina Faso in 2022 and Mali in 2020.

Ecowas condemned the coups and suspended its membership, hoping they would restore civilian rule.

But the leaders of the coup dug in their heels and turned towards Russia.

They accuse Ecowas of being too closely aligned with Western powers and increasingly relying on Russia to fight armed jihadists waging an insurgency in the region.