With West Africa on the brink of permanent fragmentation following the bitter exit of the Sahel juntas, the continental legal corps is calling on Senegal’s fresh-faced leader to broker peace—before the founding vision of a united ECOWAS collapses entirely.
As West Africa fractures under the weight of diplomatic expulsions and military alliances, the African Bar Association (AFBA) has issued a direct, high-stakes charge to Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye following his appointment as Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.
In an official intervention dated August 28, 2026, signed by AFBA President High Chief Ibrahim Eddy Mark, the continental legal body warned that ECOWAS faces an existential crisis that threatens its foundational 1975 charter. At the heart of the crisis is the severe rupture between the regional bloc and the Alliance of Sahel States (AES)—comprising the military-led regimes of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.
The AFBA urged Faye to abandon “narrow national and political considerations” and deploy courageous, unaligned diplomacy to halt the region’s descent into a permanent divide:
- No Winners, No Losers: The association demanded that reconciliation talks be pursued with fairness, mutual respect, and zero pre-determined positions, warning against zero-sum political maneuvering.
- Dismantling Illegal Barriers: Highlighting economic sabotage within the region, AFBA called out arbitrary border restrictions that stifle trade and violate the fundamental protocols governing the free movement of citizens.
- Ending Selective Justice: The statement sharply criticized double standards in regional governance, calling for an uncompromising, non-selective enforcement of constitutionalism and human rights across all member states.
Leveraging its newly acquired Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the AFBA officially offered its legal machinery to help ECOWAS navigate the high-stakes mediation.
