The transitional authorities in Mali claim that they are not bound by the one-year deadline to leave the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), after the announcement of their withdrawal from the regional organization, says a document from the Malian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Malian transitional government announced on January 28 the withdrawal of Mali from ECOWAS, at the same time as the Burkinabe and Nigerian authorities with whom it created an alliance.
Article 91 of the ECOWAS Treaty stipulates that member countries remain bound by their obligations for a period of one year after notifying their withdrawal.
“The government of the Republic of Mali is no longer bound (by the) time constraints mentioned in Article 91 of the Treaty,” says the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a letter to ECOWAS.
The Malian ministry points out that ECOWAS itself made the treaty “inoperative” when it failed to meet its obligations by closing the borders of the Member States with Mali in January 2022, prohibiting it from accessing the sea.
ECOWAS had at the time imposed heavy sanctions on Mali to force the authorities in power to commit to an acceptable timetable for the return of power to civilians.
The ministry “reiterates the irreversible nature of the Malian government’s decision to withdraw “without delay from ECOWAS because of the violation by the organization of its own texts,” adds the document.
The authorities of the three Sahelian countries formally notified ECOWAS at the end of January of the “without delay” withdrawal of the West African organization.
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