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Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) pledged on Sunday to create a regional peacekeeping force in the hope of bringing some stability and security to a region where coups are on the rise. . Senior officials have also called on Mali to release the 46 Ivorian soldiers detained since July by the end of the month, on pain of further sanctions.
West African leaders decided on Sunday, December 4 in Abuja, Nigeria, to create a regional force dedicated to intervening not only against jihadism but also in the event of a coup, after the region has experienced several in the past two years, said a senior official.
The heads of the member states of the Economic Community of West African States or their representatives meeting at the summit also demanded that the junta in power in Mali release by January 1 46 Ivorian soldiers who have been imprisoned since July, he said. to journalists Omar Touray, president of the ECOWAS commission.
Otherwise, they will take sanctions, a West African diplomat told a correspondent for the AFP press agency on condition of anonymity, while this case is a source of serious tension between Mali and the Ivory Coast, both members of the entity.
The Togolese president, Faure Gnassingbé, will travel to Mali to “demand” the release of the soldiers, added the diplomat.
“ECOWAS leaders have decided to recalibrate our security architecture,” said Omar Touray. It’s about taking charge of your “own security” and no longer depending on external actors, he explained.
They are “resolved to establish a regional force that will intervene when necessary, be it security, terrorism or restoration of constitutional order in member states,” he said.
Unsafety
Several countries in the region are prey to the jihadist expansion that, starting in northern Mali, has reached the center of this country, but also Burkina Faso and Niger, and extends to the south and the Gulf of Guinea. National armies are largely powerless and cooperate with external actors, such as the UN, France or even Russia.
Insecurity is a major factor in the military coups that have shaken the region since 2020, in Mali, Burkina Faso and, for other reasons, in Guinea.
Military officials from the region will meet in the second half of January to discuss the modalities for establishing the regional force, Omar Touray said.
West African leaders have decided that funding will not depend solely on voluntary contributions which have already shown their limits, he said without elaborating.
ECOWAS, concerned about instability and contagion, has been pressing for months to return the civilians at the head of these countries as soon as possible, two of which, Mali and Burkina Faso, are seriously shaken by the expansion of jihadism. Mali and Burkina Faso have been the scene of two coups in less than a year.
Transition
All three countries are suspended from ECOWAS decision-making bodies.
The military promised under pressure to relent after two years and a so-called transition period during which everyone says they want to “re-found” their state.
West African leaders examined actions taken by others on the road to what they call a “return to constitutional order.”
In Mali, “it is absolutely necessary that the constitutional order returns on schedule,” said Omar Touray. If the Malian Army sticks to the announced deadline of March 2024 after months of political confrontation with ECOWAS and a severe trade and financial embargo now lifted, the “transition” will in fact have lasted three and a half years.
In Guinea, Omar Touray urged the junta to involve political parties and civil society “immediately” and “without exception” in the process of returning civilians to power.
The main parties and a large part of civil society are boycotting the Junta’s offer of dialogue. If this dialogue is not possible in Guinea itself, the junta should examine the possibility of it taking place in another ECOWAS country, Omar Touray said.
As for Burkina Faso, Omar Touray expressed ECOWAS’s “serious concerns” regarding security developments and the humanitarian crisis and affirmed ECOWAS’ willingness to support the country.
with AFP
