At the extraordinary summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, recently, the leaders of the West African nations have pledged $1 billion to combat the threat of Islamist militancy Fifteen members of the West African bloc participated in the extraordinary summit, Morocco, Mauritania and Chad who are non-members also the meeting that addressed the growing insecurity in the region.
Niger President of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou the current head of the regional bloc, stated that ECOWAS has decided to contribute “1 billion dollars to the financing of the joint forces and to the reinforcement of the operational capabilities and of state intelligence. “The pledge, according to him, is to be honored from 2020 to 2024. The funds are intended to help reinforce the military operations of the countries involved in the fight against violence in the region. A detailed plan will be submitted during the next ECOWAS summit in December.
The Sahel and Lake Chad regions reportedly will get a bigger contribution in the fight against radical Islamists from the international community. The region, bordering the Sahara Desert and including the countries of Mali, Niger, Chad and Mauritania, is referred to by the US military as “the new front in the war on terrorism”. During the summit, the ECOWAS Commission’s President Jean-Claude Kassi Brou urged the United Nations to strengthen its peacekeeping mission established in Mali since 2013.
Religious violence has grown many folds across West Africa over the past two decades. Political observers feel that military responses alone may not be sufficient to end violence that is caused by, high illiteracy rates and socio-economic problems in some regions of West Africa. Therefore, the analysts call for structural changes preventing terror groups from recruiting young people.
