Following hours-long deliberations by the Economic Community of West African States Authority of Heads of State and Government at an extraordinary summit on the political, peace, and security situation in the region at the State House, Abuja, the bloc on Saturday lifted economic sanctions on Niger, Mali and Burkina-Faso with immediate effect.
President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr Omar Touray, while announcing the Authority’s resolutions, said it had suspended the closure of the land and air border to Niger, a no-fly zone of all commercial flights, while also suspending the freezing of all financial transactions between ECOWAS states and Niger, including transactions relating to the bloc’s central bank and the unfreezing of all of Niger’s assets at EBID.
It also lifted the travel ban on military junta members and their families.
Touray said the move is “based on humanitarian considerations due to lent and the approaching month of Ramadan.”
The authority also lifted sanctions on the election of Mali citizens to ECOWAS positions.
It also lifted sanctions on Guinea, inviting all four countries to attend technical consultative meetings of ECOWAS going forward.
ECOWAS also asked its withdrawing member states to reconsider their decision, given the benefits enjoyed by their citizens.