ECOWAS Heads of State committed to eradicate terrorism
Cotonou, Benin (PANA) – Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have committed to eradicate terrorism in their regional space, through the adoption of a declaration against the phenomenon at the end of their extraordinary summit held on Saturday in the Burkinabè capital, Ouagadougou.
That extraordinary session aimed to examine the different initiatives implemented to prevent and combat terrorism, as well as the redefinition of priorities, in accordance with a decision made at the end of the 55th ordinary session of the Conference on 29 June 2019 in Abuja, said the communiqué issued on Sunday.
The growing threat, which terrorism put on the region, makes imperative the strengthening of solidarity and cooperation among member countries, said Burkina Faso President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré.
He urged member States to ‘’pool their human, material and intelligence resources, while equipping and training our defence and security forces to strengthen their operational capacities in terms of fighting against the phenomenon in West Africa’’.
The ECOWAS chairman, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, underlined the important impact which terrorism has on the economic activities of the region, as well as the fear it puts on populations. He reaffirmed the ECOWAS commitment to eliminate terrorism in the region, as well as to reevaluate the regional anti-terrorist strategy.
For Nigerien President Issoufou Mahamadou, current chairman of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the community: ‘’the region must set itself the goals to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its member States, to preserve the regional democratic institutions and ensure the security of citizens and protect their goods’’.
“The threat posed by terrorist and criminal organisations has taken strategic dimension because it only aims to doubt the existence of our governments and our territories, in their present form’’, he added, indicating that ‘’the extraordinary session had been convened because terrorism represents true threat to peace, security and stability in the region, tr democratic institutions and economic development’’.
The extraordinary summit was marked by messages of solidarity from several countries and institutions, particularly the African Union (AU), the special representative of the UN Secretary-General for West Africa and Sahel (UNOWAS), Algeria, the German Federal Republic, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America, France and the European Union.
-0- PANA IT/TBM/IBA/MSA/AR 15Sept2019
