West Africa, the home of landmarks such as Timbuktu and the Niger River, is a cultural hub filled with vast natural, beautiful habitats.
But it also contains many of the continent’s poorest countries, and faces significant barriers to prosperity — not least a series of insurrections which have seen many of its countries labeled part of the “Coup Belt.”
Regional integration is rocky. In January, three West African countries: Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger withdrew their membership from the local body to promote economic integration — the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS. ECOWAS had previously suspended them, and several other nations, following military coups.