The Economic Community of African States (ECOWAS) Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff has called for the return of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso to the regional body.
They said the return of these countries to the regional body was crucial to defeating terrorism and other crimes in the West African sub-region and the entire African continent.
Chairman of the Committee and Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, said this when he led other chiefs of defence staff of ECOWAS on a visit to the national coordinator of the counter-terrorism Centre, Maj. Gen. Adamu Laka in Abuja.
The three countries pulled out of the regional body last year after their respective militaries overthrow democratic governments in their countries.
But General Musa said all hands must be on deck to curtail insecurity in the West Africa sub-region.
He said: “We know we have three countries that have decided to step aside. We’re making all efforts to ensure that they come back to the fold because we know even they, on their own, cannot withstand this insecurity alone. And we know the relevance that if they fall, it will also drag us down.
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“For us, we feel without security, there can’t be progress. And the threats we are facing, especially on insurgency, are high, and we think it’s very, very important that we need to partner together to achieve success. No country can do it alone, and that’s why it’s important.
“And that’s why it’s important for us as West Africans to continue to work together. I appreciate the National Coordinator for doing a wonderful job. He just came in in April, and there’s so much that has taken place, and that is something we’re very proud of.”
Gen. Musa, who said the insurgency in the region was spreading wide and fast, urged the defence chiefs to leave no stone unturned to curb the menace.
He said: “We are sure that we’re going to work together to ensure that there is total peace in our own region.
“Experience has shown that kinetic efforts can’t do so much, but the non-kinetic does more. But we need the two of them to go hand in hand, and that’s what we have to continue doing.”
In his remarks, National Coordinator Counter-terrorism Centre, Maj.-Gen. Adamu Laka said there was a need for cooperation among the West African countries to defeat terrorism.
Laka also said countries in the region must share experiences, adding that experience sharing is one of the ways.
He said: “Part of the things we have in this facility to address the threat of terrorism, we have state-of-the-art forensic laboratories. We have the toxicology labs, the fingerprint labs, the DNA labs, the handwriting labs, and so on. These are things that will facilitate the threat of terrorism investigation and so on.
”We hope to partner with our brothers in the West African sub-region and the Sahel. They say if your brother’s house is on fire, it can also reach yours.
“So we need to learn from one another. I know every country has its own experience. The only way we can address this threat is to share our experiences to address them.
“We are in the process of talking about how we are going to come together to address this threat that is really stopping development and stopping our people from reaping the dividends of democracy.”
