Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Mali wants to rejoin regional blocs

• Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso have decided to join regional alliances.
• To seek the lifting of their suspensions from ECOWAS.
• And the AU following a series of coups.

In a joint statement released on Thursday, the top diplomats of Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso announced that they desire to re-join regional alliances.

They had decided to collaborate to seek for the lifting of their suspensions from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU).

Following Lavrov’s visit to Mali earlier in the week, Abdoulaye Diop of Mali, Morissanda Kouyate of Guinea, and Olivia Rouamba of Burkina Faso met in the Burkinabe capital, Ouagadougou, to discuss aid for West African nations fighting armed groups.

According to a joint statement issued following the conference, the three nations “decided to combine their efforts and undertake collaborative steps for the relaxation of the suspension measures and other restrictions” by ECOWAS and the AU.

Since 2020, a series of coups have taken place in the three nations, installing administrations that have resisted calls from abroad to reinstate civilian authority, resulting in suspensions from regional organizations.

The three ministers came to an agreement on the need to “combine their efforts and those of the countries of the sub-region and the region to cope with this scourge” as the Sahel region’s level of insecurity increased, according to the statement.

Mali has severed ties with France, its longtime ally and former colonial power, in favour of maintaining strong military connections with the Kremlin, and there is growing concern that Burkina Faso would do the same.

“This is the first time that I have been in Burkina Faso since the struggle of the Burkinabe people, which led to a correction enabling the recovery of sovereignty and territorial integrity in this brother country,” Mali’s Diop said.

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In Mali and Burkina Faso, military administrations have taken control amid resentment towards the army over the death toll from a conflict that has driven millions of people from their homes and claimed thousands of lives.

Different factors led to the coup in Guinea, which was sparked by populace resentment of Alpha Conde, the country’s then-president, for taking a turn towards authoritarianism.

ECOWAS is pressuring all three nations to immediately revert to civilian government.

Other sanctions that were imposed on Mali and Guinea have also been partially withdrawn.

The diplomats slammed the sanctions, saying they “affect populations already battered by insecurity and political instability, deprive ECOWAS and the AU of the contribution of the three countries needed to meet the major challenges, and undermine sub-regional and African solidarity”.

On a visit to Bamako on Tuesday, Lavrov praised the ties Mali and Russia had developed in the fight against armed organizations.

He declared that the Kremlin was ready to give the nation more assistance.

“The fight against terrorism is, of course, an issue for the other countries in the region,” Lavrov said.

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