West Africa's 'Brexit' moment spells trouble for the region (news.yahoo.com)

submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

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DAKAR (Reuters) - A decision by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to quit West Africa's economic and political bloc reverses decades of regional integration, leaving millions of people in limbo, and is likely to deepen the three junta-led countries' ties with Russia.

The move to withdraw from the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) could yet take time to implement, opening a door for negotiations.

But, if carried through, it is set to disrupt the region's trade and services flows, worth nearly $150 billion a year.

It also raises questions over millions of nationals from the three poor and landlocked nations who settled in neighbouring states as the bloc allows visa-free travel and right to work.

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[-] cleanandsunny@literature.cafe 17 points 7 months ago

This headline is bogus; the comparison to Brexit makes no sense here. Brexit was voted on in a democratic process (for better or worse), but all of these countries currently have junta governments that were not elected, and were suspended by ECOWAS because of it. Now they are unilaterally “choosing” to leave ECOWAS, but truthfully, ECOWAS considers them illegitimate and has considered military action (though done very little). It will be interesting to see if the threat of leaving finally prompts some collective action or not.

[-] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works -1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

It really isn’t an apples to apples comparison.

Brexit occurred because of an (absolutely imbecilic) political gamble that failed quite catastrophically ~~and the opposition party (that subsequently gained power) latched onto the idea and wouldn’t let go.~~

Edit: it was the Torries, soup to nuts. Not sure how I crossed that one up lol

hah

This is occurring because all the countries in question underwent military coups recently (with possible-to-likely Russian - specifically, Wagner - backing). The military juntas that are now in charge are doing this. This is categorically not a democratically-motivated change.

[-] AlpacaChariot@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

Not sure if I'm just misreading you, but which party do you think was the opposition during the brexit referendum and has subsequently gained power in the UK? The Tories called the referendum and have been in power since. Hopefully we will be rid of them at the upcoming election but I wouldn't count on it.

this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2024

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