Overview

• Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio assumed the ECOWAS chairmanship and pledged to strengthen democratic norms across the bloc.
• ECOWAS has contended with the departures of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger and delays in activating its multinational Standby Force.
• For the first time, ECOWAS and the newly formed Alliance of Sahel States agreed to uphold free movement and coordinate counterterrorism efforts.
• The bloc remains underresourced, with a recent €110 million EU injection far short of the €2.26 billion needed to operationalize the Standby Force.
• Surging organized crime and a survey in Togo showing majority support for the Sahel alliance underscore regional doubts over ECOWAS’s effectiveness.