Three West African countries, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, run by military juntas will be launching new biometric passports as part of their withdrawal from the wider regional bloc Ecowas.
The three countries whose military leaders took over power in a series of coups between 2020 and 2023, announced their plan to leave the ECOWAS bloc in January. Following the coups, they formed the Alliance of Sahel States to boost military cooperation. In July they formed a confederation to broaden the nature of their work together beyond security.
It remains unclear how the new passports will affect the travel of their nationals to other Ecowas states where they enjoyed visa-free movement as holders of a 15-nation regional passport.
