On Sunday, the military regimes in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger declared their immediate withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The leaders of the three Sahel nations disclosed this in a joint statement on Sunday.

According to the military juntas, it was a “sovereign decision” to leave the Economic Community of West African States “without delay”.

All three were suspended from ECOWAS, with Niger and Mali facing heavy sanctions.

With the latest development, the juntas have recently hardened their positions and joined forces in an “Alliance of Sahel States”.

“Niger had hoped for an opportunity to talk through differences with fellow states of ECOWAS, which has cold-shouldered Niamey, imposing heavy economic and financial sanctions following the military coup that overthrew elected president Mohamed Bazoum.

“Indeed, the Organization has not provided assistance to our States in the context of our existential fight against terrorism and insecurity; worse, when these States decided to take their destiny into their own hands, it adopted an irrational and unacceptable posture by imposing illegal, illegitimate, inhumane and irresponsible sanctions in violation of its texts, all things which have further weakened populations already bruised by years of violence inflicted by instrumentalized and remote-controlled”, the statement read.