Senegalese President Basirou Diomaye Faye. File | Photograph credit score: AP
Senegal’s President Basirou Diomaye Faye, Africa’s youngest president, immediately faces the daunting problem of reuniting the Financial Neighborhood of West African States (ECOWAS), a weakened regional bloc older than him.
On July 7, Faye, 44, was tasked with bringing junta-ruled Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso again into ECOWAS on the bloc’s summit in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.
The three nations left ECOWAS and fashioned an alliance after navy coups fractured their relations with their West African neighbors.
As a peace envoy backed by Togolese President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe, Mr Faye is seen as presumably one of the best amongst heads of state for a mission geared toward making an attempt to attract the three nations again into the fold of regional cooperation.
Past the enchantment of financial and safety collaboration, ECOWAS’s goodwill has waned in recent times, mentioned Afolabi Adekaiyaoja, a analysis analyst on the West Africa-focused Heart for Democracy and Growth. However the brand new function affords Faye the chance to pursue reforms to make ECOWAS “extra sustainable and self-reliant,” Adekaiyaoja mentioned.
Mr. Faye additionally represents the alternative of what the three navy leaders declare to oppose.
He had not been elected when ECOWAS, based in 1975, imposed crippling sanctions on Niger following a coup final July. Niger cited the sanctions as one of many causes for leaving the bloc. Furthermore, Faye’s victory in an April election that was licensed as credible stood in distinction to rigged elections within the area.
At residence, Faye is revisiting previous ties that junta leaders say have stifled West Africa’s growth, although Senegal stays a key ally for the West.
Below Faye’s management, Senegalese officers are renegotiating contracts with international operators current within the nation and, in line with Finance Minister Abdourahmane Sarr, “they intend to free us from the bonds of dependence on our public insurance policies.”
In accordance with analysts, that is precisely what the junta desires to listen to. Since overthrowing democratic governments in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, the generals have minimize navy and financial ties with Western companions akin to the USA and France, saying they’d not benefited their international locations. The shift has opened the window for Russia to increase its presence within the area.
“Like different heads of state, he (Faye) is asking for sovereignty and a break with the previous order,” says Seidik Abba, a Sahel specialist and president of the Worldwide Centre for Reflection on Research.
Age is an “asset” for Faye
Within the case of Faye, a former tax inspector, age isn’t just a quantity. Though he’s Africa’s youngest president, he’s older than three of the area’s 4 present navy leaders.
At Sunday’s ECOWAS assembly in Nigeria, Mr Faye was nonetheless among the many youngest.
When he visited Nigeria in Could, the Senegalese chief touted his age as an “asset” that may assist open a window for dialogue with neighbors.
In accordance with Abba, the Sahel specialist, Faye’s process of participating with the three international locations is not going to be straightforward. He mentioned all three have broader considerations concerning the operations of ECOWAS, which they are saying faces interference from international international locations akin to France, its former colonial ruler.
The query additionally arises as to how a lot freedom Mr Faye and the Togolese president would have of their function as envoys of an ECOWAS that has simply re-elected Nigerian President Bola Tinubu as its president.
Its success will rely on “how the totally different leaders can coordinate and agree” on the problems, Adekaiyaoja mentioned.
