FILE – The defense chiefs from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) countries excluding Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea and Niger, gather for their extraordinary meeting in Accra, Ghana, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023, to discuss the situation in Niger. Three West African nations of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have quit the regional economic bloc known as ECOWAS. Their respective juntas said in a joint statement on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024 thatt he bloc has imposed “inhumane” sanctions to reverse the coups in their nations and has also “moved away from the ideals of its founding fathers and Pan-Africanism” after nearly 50 years of its establishment. (AP Photo/Richard Eshun Nanaresh, File)
