The Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has endorsed the inclusion of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) as non-ECOWAS member states.
The decision allows the three Sahelian countries to participate in GIABA’s work on financial crime prevention, subject to firm political commitments to comply with all obligations under the GIABA framework.
These include taking concrete steps to address gaps in their Anti-Money Laundering, Countering the Financing of Terrorism, and Countering Proliferation Financing (AML/CFT/CPF) systems, as well as cooperating fully with monitoring and compliance processes.
GIABA announced that the approval was granted at the close of the 68th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority, held on December 14, 2025, in Abuja, Nigeria. The meeting was chaired by President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone, who currently serves as Chair of the ECOWAS Authority.
The move follows earlier recommendations by the GIABA Ministerial Committee, which, at its second Extraordinary Session in Accra on July 19, 2025, proposed the admission of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger as non-ECOWAS participants in the regional anti-money laundering body.
Although the three countries officially exited ECOWAS on January 29, 2025, after forming the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), the Authority’s decision underscores a continued regional interest in coordinated action against money laundering, terrorism financing and related financial crimes.
GIABA’s founding statute permits the admission of non-ECOWAS states that meet established eligibility conditions, reflecting the organisation’s broader mandate to strengthen financial integrity across the region.
With the latest approval, GIABA’s non-ECOWAS membership has expanded to five countries, including São Tomé and Príncipe and the Union of Comoros, reinforcing cross-regional collaboration in the fight against illicit financial flows.