The ECOWAS Parliament has ordered an investigation into the escalating terror attacks across the sub-region, as well as the current wave of xenophobic violence against African migrants in South Africa.

The regional parliamentarians took the decision during the plenary at the first 2026 ECOWAS Parliament Ordinary Session on Tuesday in Abuja.

The decision was taken after Ghanaian MP and third deputy speaker, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, moved a motion on a “matter of urgent, direct and profound importance” during the plenary.

The parliament subsequently ordered its Committee on Political Affairs to investigate recent terror attack incidents across the sub-region, especially in Mali and Burkina Faso, and xenophobic attacks in South Africa targeting ECOWAS citizens.

Mr Afenyo-Markin, in his submission, called for urgent accountability and stronger protections amid growing concerns over the safety of West African nationals across the sub-region and in South Africa.

Citing Rule 71 of the Parliament, Mr Afenyo-Markin urged the regional lawmakers to confront what he described as “matters of direct and profound importance”.

“A regional community that cannot protect its own citizens in transit has not yet earned its name,” he said.

Mr Afenyo-Markin stated that the February 14 terror attack in northern Burkina Faso, where militants linked to Al-Qaeda intercepted a truck carrying 18 Ghanaian tomato traders.

“The attackers separated the men from the women before executing them and setting the vehicle ablaze with the driver still inside. These were not statistics. They were breadwinners, fathers and sons, the quiet engines of the regional supply chain that feeds our markets,” he stated.

Mr Afenyo-Markin also cited the April 25 terrorist attack incident in Mali, which claimed the life of the country’s defence minister, Sadio Camara.

He noted that the incident had effectively cut off the Ghana–Mali trade route, adding that Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had said it could no longer assure the safety of travellers along the corridor.

The MP faulted ECOWAS’ failure to fully uphold the Free Movement Protocol, adopted in 1979, noting that national policies often clashed with regional commitments and that citizens continued to face harassment at borders.

“The daily reality of our citizens contradicts the promise at every turn,” he said.

Mr Afenyo-Markin had also cited the widespread xenophobic attacks in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Town and Pretoria, where Ghanaian, Nigerian, Zimbabwean and Ethiopian citizens, among others, were killed, displaced and their shops looted.

The lawmaker also noted that the recent remarks by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who condemned xenophobia during Freedom Day commemorations, were not enough, stressing that stronger action was needed.

“Words delivered from a ceremonial platform do not arrest a single perpetrator. The safety of our people must never be a matter open to devastation,” Mr Afenyo-Markin said.

He appealed to the South African government to carry out immediate, thorough, and transparent investigations and prosecutions into the unfortunate incidents.

Mr Afenyo-Markin also moved that a formal communication be sent to South Africa’s parliament and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights for necessary action. 

(NAN)