To lose one economic member of the Economic Community of West African States may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose three of the 15-strong economic bloc’s members on the same day looks like a recipe for deepening regional economic and political instability.
The withdrawal from Ecowas by Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso — who in September formed the Alliance des États du Sahel, or AES — threatens to further weaken economic development in the three Sahel nations, who already rank as among the world’s poorest, and undermine vital regional efforts to counter a growing wave of Islamist violence across the region.
