Omar Touray, president of the ECOWAS Commission, has warned that the current surge in terrorism across West Africa and the Sahel region poses an existential threat to the subregion.
Mr Touray made this known while briefing the UN Security Council on regional counterterrorism cooperation, according to a statement by the commission on Friday.
The event was the 10047th UN Security Council meeting on regional counter-terrorism cooperation in West Africa and the Sahel.
The commission’s president warned that terrorists were increasingly waging “economic warfare” by disrupting fuel supplies and trade routes, posing an existential threat to both Sahelian and coastal West African states.
He also highlighted ECOWAS’ ongoing initiatives aimed at rebuilding trust, advancing political dialogue with its exited members, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, and addressing the socio-economic drivers of extremism.
“Dr Touray outlined ECOWAS’ kinetic and non-kinetic measures, including the accelerated operationalisation of the ECOWAS Standby Force.
“President Touray reaffirmed ECOWAS’ commitment to working closely with the UN, AU, and all partners to safeguard peace, stability, and resilience across West Africa and the Sahel,” the statement said.
It said the Security Council also received a briefing from UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who decried the worsening security and humanitarian situation in the Sahel.
Mr Guterres stressed the need for coherent regional and international action to curb the surging scourge of terrorism and violent extremism in the sub-region.
The meeting was chaired by President Julius Bio of Sierra Leone, who is the current chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.
Mr Bio stressed that terrorism was a global challenge that required renewed global cooperation to curb and defeat.
(NAN)