Created in 1975 to promote the economic integration of member countries, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in addition to not addressing the problems faced by states in the sub-region, has become a propaganda instrument for France, former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo said last week.
“There are terrorist groups that are plaguing Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and now Togo. But what has ECOWAS done (to this end)? Nothing!” declared Koudou Laurent Gbagbo.
The former President of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire spoke last week in an interview on the Afro Media channel.
According to him, Nigeria, the community’s leading economy, which has been facing attacks from Boko Haram since 2002, has not had the support of the organization to resolve its crisis.
The man who was president of Côte d’Ivoire from 2000 to 2011 believes that ECOWAS must work to find solutions to the problems of its members.
“In a community, if you are not able to come together to find solutions to the problem
s that arise, do not be surprised if people leave you,” said the Ivorian politician.
He stressed that African countries created the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and later the African Union (AU), but are still unable to provide funding for the institution.
Laurent Gbagbo finds it shameful that the AU headquarters was built by a foreign power and that its operation is financed by the European Union.
The former president said that this state of affairs calls into question the independence that the institution claims to defend.
“He who pays is the one who commands,” Koudou Gbagbo suggested.
This is why he invites African countries, particularly those of ECOWAS, to resolve the currency issue by establishing a single currency for all member countries.
As a reminder, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, which created the Alliance of Sahel States in September 2023, left ECOWAS on January 28, 2024, denouncing its illegitimate sanctions, the lack of mutual assistance in the face of terrorism and the influence of
foreign powers.
Source: Burkina Information Agency