After condemning the coup in Burkina Faso, and rejecting the legality of the resignation of ousted President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, ECOWAS will meet this Friday.
The Heads of State of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will meet virtually this Friday, January 28. On the agenda: to discuss the military coup that took place between Sunday and Monday, the third in the sub-region in a few months.
After criss-crossing the capital Ouagadougou last Sunday; On Monday, Burkinabe soldiers detained President Kaboré and several ministers. The coup, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, came against the backdrop of growing popular anger over the failure of Kaboré's security policy in the face of violence by terrorist groups in the country.
ECOWAS members had already condemned the Burkina Faso coup, demanding that the junta release Roch Kaboré and all other detained political leaders. The same demands have been made by the European Union, the United States, and French President Emmanuel Macron, who claims to support "the regional organization that is ECOWAS to condemn this military coup". A similar call by the Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, urges the Burkinabe military to “prioritize political dialogue as a solution to Burkina Faso's problems”.
It is not only Faso which has a new leader, but also UEMOA, since the function is not exercised intuitu personae, but by the head of a member state: Pierre-Henri Sandaogo Damiba is therefore the president. de facto UEMOA 😅 #DoubleHit
- Nathalie Yamb (@Nath_Yamb) January 27, 2022
ECOWAS, rightly or wrongly, always in continuity
The meeting of the West African regional body will therefore aim to define the bloc's position vis-à-vis the military now in power in Burkina Faso. Namely the Patriotic Movement for Safeguarding and Restoration (MPSR), led by Damiba, in turn defined as “president of the transition in Burkina Faso”.
The ECOWAS summit will begin this Friday at 10 a.m. If ECOWAS's reaction to the coups in Mali and Guinea showed anything, it is that the regional body will use everything in its power to put pressure on the MPSR, even if it means imposing a blockade. This was the case, recently, of Mali, which saw the ECOWAS countries break their diplomatic, economic and commercial relations with Bamako, in addition to closing the land and air borders.
A decision which did not succeed, moreover, in intimidating the Malian government. Nevertheless, with the “military frenzy” – qualifier used by some media for this series of coups d'etat – which is spreading more and more, ECOWAS feels the tide is turning, its popularity is falling, and its credibility is lost.
Will we then see this new ECOWAS meeting lead to a new series of sanctions? Would such a decision be wise? ECOWAS now sees its list of member states ever smaller.