On January 28, 2024, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger announced their withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The three countries, along with Chad, had joined Morocco's Atlantic Access Initiative on December 23, 2023.
Mali, fresh from disentangling itself from France, aims to fully extricate itself from Algerian oversight. The Bamako government declared the 2015 Algiers peace agreement defunct.
The rag is burning between Algeria and Mali. A development which offers an opportunity for Morocco to make its return to this Sahel country. Nasser Bourita met his Malian counterpart this Saturday in Marrakech.