West Africa saw more than 1,800 attacks in the first half of the year, resulting in nearly 4,600 fatalities and severe humanitarian effects, which is just “a snippet of the horrendous impact of insecurity”, according to a top regional official.
In the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), according to Omar Touray, half a million people are refugees and nearly 6.2 million people are internally displaced.
By the end of August, there may be 42 million people in the region in need of food, according to him, if there is insufficient international action.
Touray, the president of the ECOWAS Commission, attributed the region’s insecurity to fake news, armed insurrection, unconstitutional political coups, illegal maritime activities, and environmental crises.
He said the region is worried about the resurgence of the military, with three countries – Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea – under military rule.
“The reversal of democratic gains runs parallel to insecurity that West Africa and the Sahel have been facing for some time now,” said Touray, a former Gambian foreign minister.
He reiterated the African Union’s request that funds be allocated for African peace operations from the 193 UN member states’ share of the UN’s regular budget.
ECOWAS leaders will hold an extraordinary session on peace and security by the end of August, according to Touray, who also informed the UNSC that Bola Tinubu, the newly elected president of Nigeria, who became the bloc’s chair this July, will preside over it. Tinubu assumed the role of chair of the group in July.
The UNSC was also briefed by Leonardo Santos Simao, the newly appointed head of the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), who claimed that the security situation in the central Sahel, particularly in the border area of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, “has deteriorated further, with multiple attacks against civilians and defense and security forces.”
Simao appealed for “robust and decisive support” for the ECOWAS action plan to stem insecurity in the Sahel.
In addition to being “deeply concerned” about the spread of instability in coastal West Africa, US deputy ambassador Robert Wood told the council that the US “remains gravely concerned by democratic backsliding across the region.”
Source-Aljazeera
