Vice Admiral (V/Adm) Seth Amoama of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), Chairman of the Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff (CDS) of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has warned of terrorist threats in the sub-region.
He stated that ECOWAS has a lot of potentials that may be used to benefit populations of member nations, but that terrorism concerns are preventing this.
"Our West African area has enormous potential, which we can tap into in a peaceful atmosphere to improve the lives of our people." Unfortunately, the ECOWAS area has earned the unenviable reputation of being one of the most violent in recent history.
"The ever-changing terrorist threats in our region make it much more concerning.
"It is my fervent hope and prayer that we continue to support our shared decisions and actions, particularly in ensuring a formidable joint force that is well-trained, well-motivated, with the requisite capacity and logistics to deal with the insecurity challenges within the region," he said at an Extraordinary Meeting of Chiefs of Defence Staffs (Chefs d'Etat) of Fourteen West African countries in Accra, Ghana, to dialogue on effective means of making the region more secure.
Admiral Amoama expressed regret for the failed coup attempt in Guinea Bissau and the coup attempt in Burkina Faso, saying, "...just as we thought we had made some significant progress in dealing with the situations in Mali and Guinea, a similar unfortunate situation occurred in Burkina Faso, and the same nearly occurred in Guinea Bissau all in January and February 2022."
Ghana's Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul painted a bleak picture of insecurity in the West African Sub-Region, citing statistics from the past three years that show there have been approximately 5,306 terror-related attacks in the Sub-Region, claiming over 16,726 lives, thousands of injuries, and millions displaced, with 840 attacks alone resulting in 2,482 casualties by the end of March 2022.
He emphasized the importance of closing gaps in information and intelligence analysis to allow for better integration for effective political, social, and military direction, stating that accurate and predictive intelligence is one of the main pillars for a successful strategy in dealing with democratic instability, maritime insecurity, counter-terrorism, and extremist group activities.
Following the eighth meeting of ministers in charge of security and defence held in Cotonou on 13 April 2022, which validated an Operational Plan based on the ECOWAS Eight-Point Action Plan, the Member of Ghana's Parliament reminded participants of the collective resolve of West African Heads of States and Governments and Ministers responsible for defence and national security to maintain high levels of peace and security.