The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sanctions Guinea, a party state to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).Guinea is among the first ten out of the 38 AfCFTA-member countries to deposit their ratification as of August 2021.
“We are required to take informed decisions on these matters that will have long-term consequences for the security and democratic values of our region. We need to proffer durable solutions to the crisis, and as in the past, we’ll rise to the occasion,” said President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says at an emergency meeting on the Guinea situation.
On September 5, 2021, Special Forces ousted Guinea’s long-serving president Alpha Conde, dissolved his government and constitution and closed the nation’s airspace and land borders.At the meeting, the West African block froze all financial assets of the country and imposed travel bans on the coup leaders and their relatives.
ECOWAS has also piled more pressure on Mali’s transitional government demanding that they stick with the agreement to organize elections in February 2022 and present an electoral roadmap by next month according to the post-summit communique.Meanwhile, Mali’s earlier sanctions negatively affected activities of the AfCFTA since it was the rapporteur and had to be replaced with another party state.Guinea’s sanctions fracture the progress that has been made by the AfCFTA leaving the promoters to consider other available options.
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