General Francis Awagbe Behanzin
GENERAL FRANCIS Awagbe Behanzin, Commissioner of Political Affairs, Peace and Security of the ECOWAS Commission, has called for the sharing of information and intelligence among member states to curb terrorism within the sub-region.
He said terrorists are now coming from everywhere within the region, hence the need for firmer actions to combat the situation before it escalates.
He made this known on the sidelines of the closing ceremony of a two-day extraordinary meeting of the ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff (CDSs) in Accra.
“The terrorists begun in Sahel after the war in Libya, and coming down to Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria, and now we are seeing the terrorist coming after our coast, and that means the terrorists are coming everywhere in our region,” he said.
He revealed that the CDSs of all the 15 countries have met to analyse the situation, and also strategise on how to coordinate their action to combat terrorism.
Gen. Behanzin elaborated that ECOWAS heads of state adopted a plan of action to combat terrorism for five years with eight components, beginning with the training, equipping armed forces, function of security service, sharing of information and intelligence, and securing the borders of countries.
He added that suspended member countries like Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso, with the authorisation of the chairman of ECOWAS member states were also invited to participate in the meeting since organised crime groups take advantage of the weak borders to penetrate into other countries.
Chairman of the Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff (CDSs), who doubles as Ghana’s Chief of Defence Staff, Vice Admiral Seth Amoama, expressed his excitement for what he termed as the intellectual and cogent contributions from the CDSs towards resolution of very critical security challenges within the ECOWAS region.
He said, the problem within the sub-region is enormous and may engulf the entire region if security heads do not fast track their collective efforts to address the situation.
Earlier, the Minister of Defence reported that over the past three years, there have been about 5,306 terror related attacks within the sub-region claiming over 16,726 lives, with several thousands of injuries and millions of others displaced.
He added that in 2022 alone, 840 attacks have already been recorded, resulting in 2,482 casualties.
BY Linda Tenyah-Ayettey