Burkina Faso has launched new biometric passports without the logo of West Africa’s main political and economic bloc on their cover, further signaling its determination to withdraw from the regional alliance after military leaders took power in a coup.
Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali, three neighbouring states now led by military juntas, jointly announced in January they would leave the 15-member Economic Community of West African States, which has since sought to persuade the three to reconsider their decision.
“On this passport, there’s no ECOWAS logo, and no mention of ECOWAS either. Since January, Burkina Faso has decided to withdraw from this body, and this is just a realisation of the action already taken by Burkina Faso,” security minister Mahamadou Sana told reporters at the launch on Tuesday.
According to the Henley passport ranking, out of 198 passports globally, Burkina Faso’s ranks 78 with access to 60 visa-free destinations including ECOWAS member-countries.
ECOWAS has warned that the three countries’ withdrawal would undermine the freedom of movement and common market of the 400 million people living in the 50-year-old bloc.
President Bola Tinubu, ECOWAS chairman, and his team have been persuading the trio to reconsider their decision to exit.
Tinubu also said the bloc would remain friendly to the countries.
Their departure comes as their armies battle groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State, whose insurgencies have destabilised West Africa’s central Sahel region over the past decade and threaten to spill over into coastal states.
Since their militaries seized power in a series of coups in 2020-2023, the three countries have formed a three-way defence and cooperation pact known as the Alliance of Sahel States and severed long-standing military and diplomatic ties with Western powers, seeking instead closer relations with Russia.
