Burkina Faso has introduced a new biometric passport without the logo of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
With the move, Burkina Faso has further solidified its break from the ECOWAS regional bloc.
In January, 2024, the West African nations of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso had announced that they were leaving the regional bloc of ECOWAS, which had pressurised them to return to democratic rule.
The junta leaders of the three Sahel nations had in a joint statement stated “sovereign decision” to leave the ECOWAS “without delay,” because the bloc, they said, had imposed “inhumane” sanctions against their countries.
The three countries had accused ECOWAS of having “moved away from the ideals of its founding fathers and Pan-Africanism” after nearly 50 years of its establishment and accused the bloc of being “under the influence of foreign powers.”
ECOWAS had suspended the three countries as a result of military coups that overthrew their democratically elected governments.
The coups took place in Niger in July 2023, in Burkina Faso in 2022 and in Mali in 2020 and 2021.
Thereafter, the three countries formed a defence pact called the Alliance of Sahel States which commits each to come to the other’s aid in defence of its territorial integrity, from internal and external aggression.
They were equally said to have cut military and cooperation ties with former colonial power, France, and turned to Russia for security support.
