Could East African Community part ways again as West African bloc has just done?
If the collapse of EAC, and now ECOWAS, teaches us anything, it is that the greatest risk to regional blocs is men in uniform, with medals on their chests, and carrying pistols.
On January 29, 2025, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali formally pulled out of the West African bloc ECOWAS, a move they announced last year.
In the military coups that swept through these three countries since 2020, and the subsequent ostracism by ECOWAS, the mostly radical junta leaders—Burkina Faso’s Captain Ibrahim Traoré, Niger’s General Abdourahamane Tchiani, and Mali’s General Assimi Goita—picked up their balls and walked off the field. They formed their entity, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
