Towards A Post‑Exit Transitional Framework for ECOWAS‑AES Relations

Abstract

On 29 January 2025, the year long notice by Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger of their denunciation of the Revised ECOWAS Treaty took effect, formally marking their exit from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

At the time of their departure, these three states collectively accounted for 54.35% of ECOWAS’s landmass, 17.4% of its population,10% of its GDP, and 20% of its membership. As landlocked Sahelian states forming the northern frontier of the Community, their withdrawal represents a profound geopolitical and institutional shift for regional integration in West Africa.

Although formally completed in 2025, the exit process effectively began in September 2023 with the adoption of the Liptako‑Gourma Charter establishing the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) as a collective security arrangement among the three countries. This development introduced an institutional configuration that overlapped with ECOWAS, which itself functions both as an economic integration body and a collective security mechanism. The emergence of a parallel security framework within the same regional space created increasing tensions and ultimately rendered coexistence within the same institutional order untenable.

The immediate trigger for these developments was the military coup in Niger on 26 July 2023. In response, ECOWAS adopted an unprecedented position four days later, recognising the ousted government of President Mohamed Bazoum and signaling the possibility of using force to restore constitutional order. This marked a significant departure from prior practice, notably the 2017 intervention in The Gambia, where an initially force‑based posture evolved into a diplomatically mediated settlement supported by the United Nations Security Council.