Staff Writer
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) reported that four member nations met in Nigeria on Tuesday to discuss security and democratic transitions in the area.
Following his election as ECOWAS President on Sunday, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu met with representatives of Niger, Guinea-Bissau, and Benin in Abuja.
They specifically talked on Mali’s security following the UN mission (MINUSMA)’s pullout, which was established in 2013 to protect the nation under threat from the jihadist drive.
On the request of the anti-Western and increasingly pro-Russian Malian military junta, the UN Security Council terminated the MINUSMA peacekeeping deployment at the end of June.
Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea, three of ECOWAS’s fifteen member nations, are after a recent spate of military coups (five since 2020), they are currently being run by juntas.
Al-Qaeda and Islamic State have expanded their attacks south to nations in the Gulf of Guinea at the same time that they have gained strength in the Sahel.
After the UN mission in Mali was withdrawn, Nigeria, Benin, and Guinea-Bissau formed a triangular panel with the support of Niger to establish alternate security measures, including the potential deployment of troops from ECOWAS nations.
Omar Alieu Touray, President of the ECOWAS Commission, told the press in Abuja that Patrice Talon, the President of Benin, will soon visit Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea on behalf of this task group to talk about security and democratic transitions after the coups.
The four nations gathered in Abuja “reaffirmed their support for these countries’ swift democratic transitions,” he continued. He said, without going into greater detail, that “they are committed to providing a solid response” in terms of security, maybe including the deployment of troops from ECOWAS nations.
The ECOWAS nations decided to establish a regional army in December of last year with the mission of acting not just against jihadism but also in the case of a coup. But very little information regarding its finances and constitution has subsequently come to light, which still needs to be clarified.
