Islam Times - West Africa Molting: New Anti-Western Coalition Announcement

Islam Times - Parts of West Africa are molting in terms of politics and security. On Saturday, leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger in a statement announced their exit from the Economic Community of West Asia States (ECOWAS) and formation of a new alliance against interfering powers. So, West Asia is now witnessing rise of a new security and political coalition, one that was formed by three countries in which over the past year military coups formed new anti-Western governments.

New coalition

The leaders of the three countries of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in their first joint conference after taking power approved a joint statement to conclude a pact to establish a security alliance. According to the statement released by the three mentioned countries, the new tripartite alliance is expected to cooperate on security concerns and create economic bonds and eventually create a common currency.

These three countries, which have a combined population of more than 70 million people, currently hold a coalition, which is also called the "Alliance of Sahel States". "Union of Sahel countries" also represents the withdrawal of the three countries from ECOWAS. The three African leaders implicitly approved the withdrawal from ECOWAS.

Meaning of the new African coalition

The ECOWAS is considered as one of the African communities supported by the US and the West, and now the withdrawal of the three countries is another sign of their distance from Western trends. ECOWAS represented the West African region with 15 member countries before the three countries decided to withdraw their membership.

On the other hand, the Mali and Burkina Faso coups and the interest of these countries to cooperate with Russia have made Niger more important than before for the US. For this reason, according to many experts, the recent developments in Niger are actually a coup against the interests of Washington. This trend, which is not unrelated to the shift of power on the international stage, shows that the Western countries are increasingly being pushed in a tight spot.

Westerners queuing for exit

All the three countries that have founded the new security coalition over the past year were scenes to successful anti-Western military coups. Ruling juntas in Burkina Faso and Mali and Niger last year issued a warning that any military intervention in Niger is a declaration of war on three of them. Currently, three countries are governed by military personnel who are seeking to further distance themselves from their former Western allies.

The military council in Niger in December revoked two important security and military pacts with the EU at the same time as starting talks for military cooperation with Russia. According to France 24, before the overthrow of the former president of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, this country was the last ally of Europe in the Sahel region, and after the coup, Europe lost its last presence in this region and now Niger's military council is leaning towards Russia.

A statement issued by Niger's foreign ministry at the time said the government had decided to revoke "privileges and immunities granted" under the EU's military partnership mission in Niger, which began in February, and as a result it is under no legal obligations. It also discredited the EU capacity-building mission, which was launched in 2012 to strengthen Niger's internal security, effectively nixing EU authorization for these missions.

After the military coup in July last year and the overthrow of the pro-Western government in Niger, most of Niger's foreign economic and security allies sanctioned the country, including France, which had 1,500 troops in Niger. In response, the military council called for all foreign forces, including French, to leave this country. Earlier, the French Ministry of Armed Forces had announced that the last group of French soldiers pulled out of Mali after 9 years of presence in this country.

On Saturday, the US several-time delay of military withdrawal from Niger announced that it will remove its forces soon. Four months after Niamey revoked its security pact with Washington, the White House outlined the plans for military pullout of Niger.