Burkina Coup: ECOWAS has lost credibility - Adib Saani

A Foreign Policy and Security Analyst, Adib Saani, says the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is gradually losing its credibility.

He explained that people see ECOWAS now as a "Presidents club" that does not "serve the interest of ECOWAS citizens".

The military in Burkina Faso announced on Monday that it had ousted President Roch Kabore, suspended the constitution, dissolved the government and the national assembly, and closed the country's borders.

The announcement cited the deterioration of the security situation and what the army described as Kabore's inability to unite the West African nation and effectively respond to challenges, including an Islamist insurgency.

In an interview with Atinka News, Adib Saani explained, "People see ECOWAS as Presidents club because they only think about their interest and don't have the interest of the citizens at heart. We have what we call early warning mechanisms; they see what is happening may cause mayhem, but they won't do anything about it, but immediately the military takes over, they come in with long statements. Meanwhile, when presidents are manipulating constitutions for their selfish interests, they will sit aloof doing nothing".

"On what ECOWAS can do to bring peace to Burkina Faso, Mr Saani said, the regional body must use diplomacy and not force. "This is not the time to use force but diplomacy. See what happened in Mali; they came out in their thousands and said forget about ECOWAS, we don't care about ECOWAS because ECOWAS means nothing to us," he added.