BAMAKO, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are no longer members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), military officials of the three countries decided in a joint statement read this Sunday in the television news of Malian television (ORTM).

On the Malian side, the press release was read by Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, Malian minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, and spokesperson for the transitional government of Mali.

According to him, this decision was taken in "full sovereignty" by Ibrahim Traore, president of the Transition of Burkina Faso, Colonel Assimi Goita, interim president of Mali, and Brigadier General Abdourahamane Tchiani, president of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland of Niger, they decided to take "all their responsibility before history" by responding "to the expectations, concerns and aspirations of their populations."

ECOWAS was founded in 1975 with a mission to promote economic integration in all fields of economic activities, particularly industry, transport, telecommunications, energy, agriculture, natural resources, commerce, monetary and financial questions, and social and cultural matters. To demand a return to constitutional order, ECOWAS, with headquarters in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, has imposed drastic sanctions on the three countries since the military took power in the three countries. Enditem

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