Burkina Faso (MNN) — Burkina Faso, along with Mali and Niger, has officially left the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). All three nations are under junta military rule following recent coups, and have been frustrated with censors and sanctions from ECOWAS.
This exit drops ECOWAS’s membership to 12 countries and highlights growing frustrations in the critical regional bloc.
For Christians in Burkina Faso, this change could make an already dangerous situation worse. Greg Yoder with Christian World Outreach (CWO) explains, “ECOWAS has been a thing that’s supposed to be helping the 15 countries work together and help economically, but also with peacekeeping.”
Students at the Village of Opportunity (VOO) with CWO in Burkina Faso. (Photo courtesy of CWO)
Over the past several years, Muslim extremists in Burkina Faso have been destroying churches and killing or kidnapping believers. Now, without ECOWAS, there’s concern that Burkina Faso will struggle even more to fight these extremist groups.
The country already feels the impact economically. Yoder says, “What they’re seeing is it’s caused prices to go up for food and necessities, anything.”
Yet, CWO persists in offering skills training for young women and medical care in Burkina Faso — all in the name of Jesus.
“Ministry continues on,” affirms Yoder. “It does put a strain on the funds, but our staff there are very frugal and they do whatever they can to stretch the dollars. They buy in bulk and do whatever they can. So we are grateful for what God’s provided for us, and we try to do our best with what we have.”
Pray for God’s continued provision.
Learn more about CWO’s ministry in Burkina Faso.
Header photo: The UN Security Council attends a UN ECOWAS meeting, 2017. (Photo by UK Mission to the UN New York/Lorey Campese, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59944675)
