West African heads of state have alarmed fear of the region been taking over by insurgency already terorrising Mali, Chad, Benin and Togo among others.
Speaking at the Accra Initiative regional security conference in Accra, Tuesday, November 22, 2022, the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, warned that a rampant insurgency is threatening to engulf the entire region.
Already, some ECOWAS states, such as Benin and Togo, have seen rising attacks in recent years, prompting discussions about Western help to stem the insurgency’s southward spread. This Accra Initiative conference held among ECOWAS heads of states and European Union ministers called for renewed support to help protect the subregion.
“The risk of contagion into the coastal states is not a risk anymore, it’s a reality,” European Council President, Charles Michel has said as quoted by Reuter’s report.
“We all need to identify the best way to have an impact on the ground,” he said, adding that EU support to the region included “lethal hardware for defensive purposes”.
As foreign troops pull out of Mali, where militants have seized vast swathes of territory, West African leaders and European ministers met i Accra to discuss regional solutions to the insurgency that is spreading
France, Denmark and Ivory Coast are among countries that ended military cooperation with Mali this year over the ruling junta’s cooperation with Russian mercenaries.
Mali, where West Africa’s insurgency took root in 2012, has been at odds with regional governments, Western powers and a United Nations peacekeeping mission since a military government that seized power in an August 2020 coup failed to hold promised elections.
There are concerns military withdrawals from Mali will create a security vacuum in an area where groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State have already branched into Mali’s neighbours and moved into coastal states south of the Sahel.
“Today the terrorist groups, emboldened by their success in the regions, are seeking new grounds,” Akufo-Addo said on the second day of the Accra Initiative security conference.
“The worsening situation… threatens to engulf the entire West Africa region,” he said.
Attacks have increased over the past decade despite efforts to fight insurgents. The violence has killed thousands of people and displaced more than 2.7 million across the Sahel, according to the U.N.
Conflict and climate shocks have also created a food crisis in the region.
Over 30 million people in Sahel will require lifesaving assistance and protection in 2022, almost two million more than the previous year, the U.N. said in June.
