General Abdourahamane Tchiani, the commander of the military junta in the Niger Republic, has sworn that none of the three Sahelian nations will re-join the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS.
In an interview that he gave to the RTN news channel on Monday in the nation’s capital of Niamey, Tchiani made the promise.
Recall that on January 28, the military governments in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger declared they would be leaving ECOWAS right away.
The heads of the three Sahelian countries, however, released a statement during the threat of departure, claiming that it was a “sovereign decision” to leave the organization “without delay.”
“Just because we are members of the bloc, food and medicine supply was cut off. Power was also cut off and our own funds have been freezed. So, we consulted our friends in the Sahel on exiting the bloc to better the life of our citizens. That we should withdraw from the bloc that is answerable to the foreign countries. So, we have withdrawn our membership from the bloc and would never return to the union,” he said.
While responding to the consequences of its withdrawal on security, trade and socio-economic activities, he said, “Now the world is a global village and is the world within ECOWAS? So, God will feed every human He created.
“We would never release Bazoum. Setting Bazoum free is akin to stabbing ourselves in the stomach which would do harm to Nigeriens,” he added.
