Ecowas in crisis: Why West Africa's united front is in tatters - BBC News

Coups and broken promises test the cohesion of West Africa's regional bloc to breaking point.

2 days agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, AFPImage caption, File photo of Nigerian soldiers dancing with their rifles around flags at the closing ceremony of joint military exercises in BeninBy Paul MellyWest Africa analystAs West African ministers gathered in Nigeria's capital for yet another emergency meeting, they must have been wondering what further shocks could befall their region - its stability and political cohesion already tested to breaking-point.

The session of the mediation and security council of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) had originally been summoned to discuss last month's announcement from the military juntas leading Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger of their intention to withdraw from the 15-member bloc "without delay".

But by the time they arrived in Abuja, the ministers found themselves confronted with an entirely new crisis added to their agenda - the decision of Senegal's head of state, Macky Sall, to postpone the 25 February presidential election.

On Monday, with gendarmes ejecting opposition members from the national assembly, his parliamentary supporters voted to push the polls back until 15 December.

This sparked a storm of protest from the opposition and civil society, with even the governing party's own candidate, Prime Minister Amadou Ba, opposed to a decision that shakes to its foundations a country that had hitherto been seen as one of West Africa's most resilient and institutionally rooted democracies.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-68255833?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

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