Monday, March 31, 2025 - West African neighbours of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have imposed a new 0.5% levy on imported goods.
They said this in a statement as they seek to fund a new
three-state union after leaving the larger regional economic bloc.
The Alliance of Sahel States began in 2023 as a security
pact between the military rulers of the three countries, who all took power in
coups in recent years.
It has since grown into an aspiring economic union with
plans for biometric passports and closer economic and military ties.
According to the statement, the levy was agreed on Friday
and will take effect immediately.
The levy, it was gathered, will affect all goods imported
from outside the three countries, but will not include humanitarian aid, the
statement said.
The move ends free trade across West Africa, whose states
have for decades fallen under the umbrella of the Economic Community of West
African States, ECOWAS, and highlights the rift between the three states that
border the Sahara Desert and influential democracies like Nigeria and Ghana to
the south.
The juntas of the three countries announced plans to leave
ECOWAS last year, accusing the bloc of failing to assist in their fight against
Islamist insurgents and ending insecurity.
ECOWAS had imposed economic, political and financial
sanctions on the three in a bid to force them to return to constitutional
order, to little effect.
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are some of the poorest
countries in the world and have been overrun by an armed Islamist insurgency
over the past decade.
The violence, committed by groups linked to al Qaeda and
Islamic State, has killed thousands, forced millions to flee, and eroded faith
in the democratically-elected governments who initially struggled to contain
it.
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