The military governments of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have announced a new 0.5 percent levy on imported goods from Nigeria and other Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, member-nations.

They also sought to fund a new three-state union after leaving the larger regional economic bloc, according to an official statement signed by the trio.

According to the statement, the levy was agreed last Friday and had taken immediate effect.

The levy, it said, would affect all goods imported from outside the three countries but would not include humanitarian aid.

"It will finance the activities of the bloc," the statement said without giving further details.

The move ends free trade across West Africa, which states have for decades fallen under the umbrella of the ECOWAS, and highlights the rift between the three states that border the Sahara Desert and influential democracies, such as Nigeria and Ghana, to the south.

The three countries, each ruled by military juntas that came to power through recent coups in 2023, had established the Alliance of Sahel States, ASS, as a security agreement, following their exit from the ECOWAS bloc.

Over time, this alliance evolved into an aspiring economic union, with plans to promote deeper military and financial integration, including introducing biometric passports.

Last year, the three nations left ECOWAS, citing claims that the bloc had not sufficiently supported them in fighting Islamist insurgencies and addressing insecurity in their countries.

In retaliation, ECOWAS had imposed economic, political and financial sanctions on the three in a bid to force them to return to constitutional order, to little effect.

The three countries have, however, formed a brickwall against efforts by ECOWAS, led by Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu, to get them back into the bloc.

Only last week, the Ghanaian President, John Mahama, reported to President Tinubu in Abuja that efforts to win them back were not yeilding the desired results.