West Africa regional bloc says the impending exit of coup-hit nations is disheartening

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — West Africa’s regional bloc, ECOWAS, said Sunday that the impending exit of its three member states led by military juntas is disheartening after a nearly yearlong process of mediation to avert the unprecedented disintegration of the grouping.

In a first in the 15-nation bloc’s nearly 50 years of existence, the military juntas of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso announced in January that they have decided to leave ECOWAS, accusing it of “inhumane and irresponsible” coup-related sanctions and of failing to help them solve their internal security crises.

The three coup-hit countries have largely rebuffed ECOWAS’ efforts to reverse their withdrawal. They have started to consider how to issue travel documents separately from ECOWAS and are forming their own alliance. The one-year process of their departure is expected to be completed in January.

At the summit of regional heads of state in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, ECOWAS Commission President Omar Alieu Touray commended efforts by the bloc’s envoys to resolve the crisis.

“These efforts underscore your collective commitment to preserving peace and unity in our region,” Touray said.

As West Africa’s top political authority since it was formed in 1975, such a division is ECOWAS’ biggest challenge since inception, said Babacar Ndiaye, senior fellow with the Senegal-based Timbuktu Institute for Peace Studies.

The chances of ECOWAS getting the three countries back into their fold are slim mostly because the bloc wants a quick return to democracy, which the juntas have not committed to, said Mucahid Durmaz, a senior analyst at global risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft. Allowing the juntas to remain in power “could risk further regional fragmentation” while recognizing them as legitimate authorities would represent “a serious departure from ECOWAS’s founding principles,” Durmaz said.

The regional bloc also failed to manage the situation in the best possible way, he said.

“The bloc’s inconsistent responses to coups in the region have given an impression that its stance is influenced more by the political ambitions of member states than by its founding principles of promoting democratic governance,” Durmaz said.

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Associated Press journalist Baba Ahmed in Bamako, Mali, contributed.

Chinedu Asadu, The Associated Press