President John Mahama has invited the navy leaders of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger to take part within the upcoming ECOWAS summit in Accra, a key occasion commemorating the bloc’s fiftieth anniversary.
This invitation follows the three Sahel nations’ formal withdrawal from ECOWAS earlier this 12 months, after which they established the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
Their exit has sparked considerations over potential disruptions to commerce and regional stability, notably for Ghana and neighbouring states.
Overseas Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa clarified that President Mahama issued the invitation in his position as host of the summit.
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I did point out all ECOWAS heads of state have been invited for this occasion, together with heads of state of the AES international locations.
Mr Ablakwa acknowledged in the course of the anniversary launch.
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Due to the divorce from ECOWAS, it requires the host president to be solely accountable for that invitation. So they’ll come as friends of the Ghanaian president.
He emphasised that Mahama’s outreach displays an effort to revive relations between ECOWAS and the departing nations.
Within the spirit of goodwill and looking for to foster reunification… when President Mahama mentioned along with his colleagues that he needed to ask the AES heads of state, he didn’t face any opposition or resistance. That is known as a good signal that there’s real dedication and want for ECOWAS to be totally reintegrated.
Ablakwa additionally disclosed that President Mahama had knowledgeable ECOWAS Chairman and Nigerian President Bola Tinubu about his discussions with the Sahel leaders.
President Tinubu has mentioned that on the subsequent ECOWAS heads of state summit, President Mahama will likely be given the ground to current an in depth report of his engagements.
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Nevertheless, the inclusion of the AES leaders in ECOWAS affairs—regardless of their formal exit—has raised questions.
Safety analyst Fatau Musa offered historic perception into the strained relationship between the Sahel states and the regional physique.
Up till they left, they had been taking part within the Accra Initiative. ECOWAS all the time invited them to this assembly.
Since about 2007, the Sahelian international locations have been very reticent in collaboration with the remainder of the area.
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He famous that ECOWAS had beforehand sought to develop a unified Sahel technique however encountered resistance from nations comparable to Algeria.
When the G5 Sahel was created, functions by different ECOWAS members to hitch had been rebuffed. So the trajectory that the AES has taken shouldn’t be very stunning.
The invitation marks a big diplomatic effort to bridge divides in West Africa amid rising regional fragmentation.
