Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, has called for an integrated and multisectorial solutions to tackling the menace of terrorism in the Sahel region.
She made the call in a speech on June 12, 2020 during the first meeting of the international coalition of the Sahel.
According to her, the security and economic challenges in the Sahel have undermined the socio-economic development of the ECOWAS region.
These challenges have been exacerbated by the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic which has taken over the attention and resources of both international and domestic actors, and as a result violent extremists are exploiting the situation, the Minister said.
Terrorism and acts perpetrated by violent extremists in the Sahel-Saharan region have become trans-border threats, with the potential to spread to coastal states in West Africa, she added.
“The acts of terrorism have, unfortunately, assumed worrisome proportions over the past several months. ECOWAS, therefore, launched the 2020 – 2024 Action Plan to end terrorism in the ECOWAS region, with a general framework, a strategy, a funding mechanism and priority areas to maintain the momentum in the fight against terrorism.”
She added that “the response to these enduring security and development issues, which concerns humanitarian actions and human rights as well as resilient institutions and good governance, call for integrated and multisectoral solutions.
“Regrettably, the uncoordinated and unstructured operations of multiple actors with different interests within the region, have not promoted our efforts to achieve set goals,” she added.
The Summit in Pau, France, she added, will go down in history as ground-breaking only if all members of this coalition commit themselves to the rules and collaborate with the Sahel countries, ECOWAS and the African Union.
“At the same time, we should keep in mind that the solution must be a regional one and that the problem needs not be made complex by outside forces,” she urged.
She stated that it was “Ghana’s conviction that the rules of engagement and operations that we have finalized today, will help us to effectively and holistically deal with the security, economic, development and environmental challenges that confront the Sahel and nearby countries.”
By Melvin Tarlue