Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have announced their withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), dealing a hard blow to France and the Algerian regime which is serving the agenda of the former French colonial power in the region. The three countries had already been suspended from ECOWAS after military coups took place in Niger in July 2023, Burkina Faso in 2022, and Mali in 2020. According to some experts, their withdrawal from the regional bloc buries once for all the Algeria-Nigeria gas pipeline project, while the Moroccan-Nigerian project is gaining momentum driven by the African Atlantic cooperation project spearheaded by King Mohammed VI. Within the frame of South-South solidarity-based cooperation, the Moroccan Sovereign has launched lately an international initiative to enable Sahel countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Niger) to have access to the Atlantic Ocean, a project that will transform the economies of these landlocked countries and the entire region. These combined projects show Morocco’s leadership in driving geostrategic changes in Africa for shared prosperity, co-development, regional peace and stability.

Source: The North Africa Journal January 29, 2024 12:34 UTC