Coronavirus is a threat to the security of the ECOWAS – Minister of Foreign Affairs

France 24.com reported that, “Ivory Coast had suffered its first terrorist attack since 2016, with at least ten (10) dead on its border with Burkina Faso.”

In response to the recent terrorist attack on Ghana’s neighbour, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration for Ghana, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, at the first meeting of the international coalition of the Sahel extended her condolences to the Government and the people of Cote D’Ivoire.

In her address to the coalition, the Minister revealed that the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a surge in the security and developmental challenges of the ECOWAS sub region, because international and domestic actors have turned their attention and resources to the fight against the coronavirus.

She noted that this phenomenon has created the opportunity for violent extremists to exploit the situation. “Terrorist and acts of violence by extremists in the Sahel Sahara region have become trans-border threats with the potential to escalate to coastal states in West Africa. These acts have unfortunately assumed worrisome proportions over the past several months”, she added.

For example, the Minister stated that under the Accra Initiative, Ghana is cooperating with a number of West African countries in the fight against terrorism.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has also launched the 2020-2024 action plan to end terrorism in the region “with a general framework, strategy, funding mechanism and priority areas to maintain the momentum in the fight against terrorism”.

While these measures have been put in place to fight terrorism in the region, the Minister commented there are few concerns that needs to be addressed.

First and foremost, she called for a unified front in the fight against terrorism as she observed the “uncoordinated and unstructured operations of multiple actors with different interest within the region.”

She advised then that, “the response to these enduring security and development issues calls for integrated and multi-sectorial solutions, promotion of human right, humanitarian actions, good governance and resilient institutions”.

Also, she encouraged all members to commit to the rules and collaborate with the Sahel countries, ECOWAS and the African Union while keeping in mind that “the solution must be a regional one and that the problem needs not be made complex.”

In her concluding remarks, she expressed her conviction that “the rules of engagement and operations will help us to effectively and holistically deal with the security, development, economic and environmental challenges that confront the Sahel and nearby countries.”

The International Coalition of Sahel is a collaboration of over twenty-five (25) countries across the globe to discuss matters of security and the general affairs of each nation.

The countries include the United States of America (USA), Canada, Netherlands, Germany, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia and other member countries.