Senegal’s President Faye looks to reunite ECOWAS, a bloc split by coups
The Hindu
Senegal's President Faye faces challenge of reuniting ECOWAS, tasked with wooing military junta-ruled Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso.
Senegal’s President Basirou Diomaye Faye, Africa's youngest, is suddenly faced with a huge challenge of reuniting the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a weakened regional bloc that is older than him.
The 44-year-old Faye was tasked on July 7 with getting the military junta-ruled Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso back to ECOWAS at the bloc's summit in Nigeria’s capital Abuja.
The three nations left ECOWAS and formed an alliance after the military takeovers fractured their relations with West African neighbours.
As a peace envoy supported by Togolese President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe, Mr. Faye is seen as possibly the best among heads of state for a mission to try to woo the three nations back to the fold of regional cooperation.
Beyond the appeal of security and economic collaboration, ECOWAS's goodwill has waned in recent years, said Afolabi Adekaiyaoja, a research analyst with the West Africa-focused Centre for Democracy and Development. But the new role offers Mr. Faye an opportunity to possibly seek reforms for "a more sustainable and self-reliant” ECOWAS, Mr. Adekaiyaoja said.
Mr. Faye also represents the opposite of what the three military leaders claim they are against.
He had not been elected when ECOWAS, founded in 1975, imposed the severe sanctions on Niger following a coup last July. Niger cited the sanctions as one of the reasons for leaving the bloc. Also, Mr. Faye's victory in an April election that was certified as credible stood in contrast to rigged polls in the region.