ECOWAS lifts sanctions on Niger, Guinea,Mali

By Biola Adebayo On Feb 24, 2024

ECOWAS, Niger, Mali, Sanctions suspension, Guinea — General view of elegates interacting, during the extraordinary session of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Heads of State and Government in Abuja, Nigeria on February 24, 2024. (Photo by Kola Sulaimon / AFP)

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has lifted travel, commercial and economic sanctions imposed on Niger that were aimed at reversing the coup staged in the country last year, a senior official announced Saturday.

The sanctions will be lifted with immediate effect, the president of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Alieu Touray said after the bloc’s meeting in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.

He said the aim is to address existential threats facing the region as well as implore three junta-led nations that have quit the bloc to rescind their decision.

The lifting of the sanctions on Niger is “on purely humanitarian grounds” to ease the suffering caused as a result, Touray told reporters. “There are targeted (individual) sanctions as well as political sanctions that remain in force,” he added.