The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) this Saturday lifted economic and commercial sanctions imposed on Niger following a coup d’état last year.
ECOWAS Commission President Omar Aliye Touray explained to media that the lifting of sanctions has an immediate effect and is “purely humanitarian” to alleviate the suffering caused, reports the Associated Press (AP).
“There are specific sanctions [individuais]”as well as political sanctions, which remain in place,” he added after a meeting of the bloc of countries in the Nigerian capital Abuja aimed at countering threats facing the region and the desire of the three countries led by the military junta to abandon ECOWAS.