The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has suspended Burkina Faso from its grouping days after a military coup that ousted the democratically elected president, Roch Marc Christian Kabore.

The announcement, which was made on Friday (January 28), comes several days after mutinous soldiers forced Kabore to resign. Burkina Faso is the third member nation to be punished by ECOWAS for a military takeover in only 18 months.

West African leaders met virtually yesterday to discuss the Burkina Faso coup and a delegation was expected to travel to the Burkinabe capital, Ouagadougou, in the coming days. Ghanaian President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the current ECOWAS chairman, called the recent spate of coups in West Africa “a direct violation of our democratic tenets”.

According to him, “the rest of the world is looking up to us to be firm on this matter.” A mission of ECOWAS chiefs of staff is now flying to Burkina Faso to hold talks.

Meetings scheduled with coup leaders

Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque reporting from Ouagadougou said, “The heads of the military in the region will be meeting with the new strongman of this country, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Tamiba today to try to apply pressure on him.”

The leaders will meet again on February 3 in Accra to assess the outcome of these missions and see whether additional sanctions should be imposed along with suspension, a summit participant told the AFP news agency. Haque said, “there were strong words in this meeting chaired by Ghana’s president,” adding that the coup represents a setback for democracy in the region.

At the virtual summit lasting about three hours, the ECOWAS leaders also called for Kabore and other detained leaders to be released. Last Tuesday, the bloc issued a statement of condemnation over the coup and accused the military of forcing Kabore to resign “under threat, intimidation and pressure”.

In the past 18 months, the 15-nation ECOWAS has suspended two other members – Guinea and Mali – where coups have occurred. ECOWAS suspended neighbouring Mali after a coup there in August 2020 and then took similar action against Guinea after the president was overthrown last September.

Mali is also under punishing economic sanctions, including flight bans and asset freezes, after its coup leader failed to organize elections within 18 months as promised. Haque said the latest suspension on Burkina Faso “has very little effect” as the sanctions put in place in Guinea and Mali “has done very little to change things”.

ECOWAS has faced criticism for its handling of the coups, particularly in Mali where mediators negotiated with the military government on the 18-month deadline for holding democratic elections.

Mali’s coup leader has said that will not be met, citing security conditions, and has announced a vote four years from now instead.