The Economic Community of West African States is preparing to establish a 5,000-man kinetic force to address the growing threat of terrorism in the region.
This move comes as the bloc revealed that 1,605 terror attacks occurred in West Africa between January and August 2024, resulting in 6,956 deaths.
The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Touray, disclosed this during an international lecture.
Touray, who was represented by Isaac Armstrong, Programme Officer of the ECOWAS Commission’s Regional Security Division, shared a detailed breakdown of the terror incidents across the region.
“Burkina Faso accounted for 611 attacks and 3,810 fatalities; Mali recorded 546 attacks with 1,424 fatalities; Nigeria, 238 attacks with 905 fatalities; Niger, 153 attacks with 676 fatalities; Benin, 44 attacks with 66 fatalities; and Togo, 13 attacks with 75 fatalities,” Armstrong revealed.
Touray emphasized ECOWAS’s determination to combat the growing insecurity.
“On the directives of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, efforts are ongoing to set up a 5000-man kinetic force to fight against terrorism using the platform of the ECOWAS Standby Force. This regional resolve does not take away the responsibility bestowed on individual member states to take full ownership of their national security responsibilities,” he said.
He highlighted that terrorism, once limited to specific areas such as Mali, Niger, and Nigeria, has now spread to other countries, including Burkina Faso, and threatens coastal nations like Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, and Togo.
Touray also provided data from 2023, indicating that 3,587 terrorist attacks were recorded in the region, with Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger suffering the most.
“These incidents have resulted in close to 9,000 fatalities, including 7,000 in the three Sahelian countries. Terror incidents in the coastal region include 177 in Benin and Togo that resulted in 203 deaths,” he said.
The ongoing violence has severe humanitarian consequences, particularly in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, where 4.8 million people face food insecurity, 2.4 million have been displaced, and thousands of schools have been closed.
Touray noted that Burkina Faso has the highest number of internally displaced people, with 2 million affected, followed by Mali and Niger, each with half a million displaced persons.
The closure of schools has also been devastating, with 6,000 schools shut down in Burkina Faso, 1,700 in Mali, and 1,000 in Niger.
In response to the crisis, ECOWAS continues to push for stronger regional cooperation and action to restore stability in affected areas.
