Klaus Boldt

Editor and CEO @boldtpublishing.com, running epo.de and epojobs.eu - dedicated to freelance journalism in the field of international development since 1995.

ECOWAS: Meeting in Ghana over exit of Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso

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ECOWAS Logo

Accra. – The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) meets in Ghana on Tuesday an Wednesday to discuss the withdrawal of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. In a statement issued on Tuesday, ECOWAS told the public member states will discuss the modalities of the countries’ withdrawal and its implications for ECOWAS agencies in the countries.

Read more: ECOWAS: Meeting in Ghana over exit of Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso

The three junta-led countries made their official exit from the bloc earlier in the year. ECOWAS had issued guidelines on its relationship with the three countries and transitional measures, which it said would be reviewed and finalised as the year progressed.

The bloc maintains its free trade policy, visa-free movement, residency, and other rights within ECOWAS states and with the three countries. It will “set up a structure to facilitate discussions on these modalities with each of the three countries.”

“Key items on the agenda include the modalities of the withdrawal process and the implications for ECOWAS Institutions and Agencies operating in the three countries. The session will also address other related matters of regional importance,” ECOWAS said.

Three weeks ago, the junta-led states, under the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), imposed a 0.5 per cent import duty on goods from ECOWAS. The levy applies to all goods from ECOWAS countries entering any of the three nations, except for humanitarian aid.

The policy countered ECOWAS’s intention of ensuring free movement of goods between its members and the AES countries despite their official exit from the bloc in January.

Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger leave La Francophonie

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Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have announced to withdraw from the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF). The three countries accused the OIF has become “a remote-controlled political instrument, operated from Paris to suit its ‘geopolitical considerations’,” the Peoples Dispatch writes.

The three countries were founding members of the OIF, an organisation with the purpose to promote the French language and greater cooperation among Francophone countries. Its precursor, the Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation (ACCT), was established in 1970 in Niger’s capital Niamey.

“Despite their 55 years of contribution to strengthening this organization, the trio complained that the OIF showed a ‘disregard for their sovereignty’ by ‘selective implementation of sanctions’ after the ouster of former France-backed regimes in these countries”.

When mass protests demanded the expulsion of French troops from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, their armies sided with the “anti-imperialist movement: in Mali in 2020, Burkina Faso in 2022, and Niger in 2023. The military governments that replaced these regimes expelled French troops from their countries.

“Instead of accompanying these countries in achieving the legitimate aspirations of their peoples, in accordance with its objectives of peace, cooperation, and solidarity,” the statement declared that the OIF was quick to retaliate by suspending and sanctioning these countries. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), regarded in the region as neocolonial and linked to France and the US, had gone beyond suspensions and imposition of crippling economic sanctions, even threatening a France-backed military invasion of Niger in 2023.

Meanwhile, the three Sahelian neighbor states formed a military pact that evolved into a confederation called the Alliance for Sahel States (AES). AES’s withdrawal from ECOWAS last year came into effect in January, reducing the land area under the regional bloc to less than half of its original size. Following this, on March 17, Niger and Burkina Faso announced their exit from OIF. Mali followed suit on March 18. The withdrawal from OIF was described by Le Monde as “a post-colonial entity that resembles the Commonwealth”.

Their withdrawal will take effect in six months. The OIF has 93 member states. “However, amid the growing strength of popular movements in France’s former colonies in the Sahel and West Africa – including in Benin, Ivory Coast, Chad, etc – its ability to continue exerting influence through such institutions is weakening fast”, the Peoples Dispatch states.

Glacier retreat is a question of survival for humanity

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Climate Change 3 by Ingrida Preisa. Copyright 2025 © by boldtpublishing.com and Ingrida Preisa

According to experts, so much glacier ice is lost in one year that it corresponds to the water consumption of the world’s population within 30 years. The preservation of glacier meltwater is essential for the climate, nature and people.

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USAID: Judge allows staff workers to be fired

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A federal judge on Friday cleared the way for the Trump administration to pull thousands of U.S. Agency for International Development staffers off the job in the United States and around the world. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency have moved swiftly to shutter USAID, AP is reporting.

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Latin America: Regional AI Planned to Preserve Cultural Identity

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Chile’s National Center for Artificial Intelligence (Cenia) has announced that it will coordinate a project, named LatamGPT to preserve Latin America’s multicultural identity. Cenia has the support of more than 30 institutions from Latin America and the Caribbean, and more than 60 experts from the region. The project will be launched in mid-2025, the Tico Times reported.

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DR Congo: 700+ People Killed in Fights with Rwanda-backed M23 Rebels

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Les FARDC et la MONUSCO renforcent leur présence à l’intérieur de Goma et ses environnants suite à un deuxième jour 921 mai 2013) de combats entre le M23 et les forces nationales de défense..© MONUSCO/Clara Padovan

At least 773 people have been killed in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) largest city of Goma and its vicinity within a week, reports Al Jazeera. As always, the civil population carries the burden of the war between army troops and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels who captured Goma last week.

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Tackling Corporate Fraud: For more Transparency in Global Trade

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The motto of the World Economic Forum 2025 ‘Collaboration for the intelligent age’ makes it clear: the fight against money laundering and financial crime through transparency and secure company identification.

Davos. – In the shadows of the global economy, criminal activities continue to thrive. The scale, sophistication, and impact of corporate fraud have reached unprecedented levels worldwide. The global economy is determined to confront these challenges head-on.

Under the theme “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age,” the World Economic Forum 2025 in Davos focuses on global cooperation and technological innovation. Among the key voices, Alexandre Kech, the newly appointed CEO of the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), demonstrates how the fight against financial crime can be revolutionized. GLEIF, a nonprofit organization founded by the Financial Stability Board of the G20, is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland.

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Mali: Algeria is interfering in internal Affairs

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The Military Government of Mali accuses the Algerian leadership of “persistent interference” in its internal affairs. According to moroccoworldnews.com the Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf had stated that Mali’s military strategy was failing in the fight against terrorism and that a political solution would be necessary. “Mali neither seeks nor accepts lessons from Algeria, which, in recent history, conducted its fight against terrorism in full sovereignty,” the statement of the Mali Foreign Ministry said.

In December last year, the Malian government had summoned its ambassador to Algeria and accused Algiers to host meetings with “terrorists”, that are hostile towards Mali’s government.


Chad: 1st Parliamentary Election in more than 10 years

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Chad

Map: Everest700, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Berlin. – The citizens of the Central African nation Chad are voting on Sunday in parliamentary, regional and municipal elections for the first time in more than a decade. The military government had the elections delayed serveral times, due to «financial problems» and the Covid-19 pandemic. Opposition voices are sceptical whether the Central African country is really on a democratic path.

Officials in the capital N’djamena declared, that the election will formally end a three-year «transitional period» after the death of the former leader Idriss Deby, who died in the 2021. His son forcefully took over. Mahamat Idriss Deby was confirmed as the country’s president after an election in May.

Many opposition party members are boycotting the polls. They called them a «masquerade» and accused the Debry government and his «Patriotic Salvation Movement» (MPS) of trying to legitimise a «political dynasty».

Chad is one of Africa’s poorest countries, ruled by the Deby family since 1991. It is first of the coup-hit states in the Sahel region to hold elections. But human rights groups said without full opposition participation, the election could not be free and fair.

«It will be difficult to have a credible election without inclusivity,» Isa Sanusi, Amnesty International’s country director in Nigeria, told Al Jazeera. «That some are boycotting the election shows that there must be a review of the process and system to ensure that a level playing field is provided to accommodate all Chadians.»

The Elections

According to Al Jazeera,

  • some 8.3 million registered voters of the country’s 18-million population will vote for legislators in the country’s 188-seat parliament. Parties need 95 seats for a majority.
  • More than 100 political parties have put forward some 1,100 candidates for the parliamentary elections. Winners are elected by a first-past-the-post or a more-than-half majority method, depending on the constituency size.
  • Voters will also choose regional and local governments across 22 regions and the capital, N’Djamena.

The Transformers Party, as well as other opposition parties, are boycotting the elections. The argue that the vote will be neither free nor fair.