Interstate Tensions Characterize Nigeria ECOWAS Summit
Members of the West African Elders Forum on a Pre-Election Assessment Mission in Abuja, Nigeria visited the ECOWAS Commission President on December 4th, 2022. Photo: ECOWAS CEDEAO
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had their 62nd summit this past Sunday for West African leaders in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja. The main push for the summit was to reinforce relationships between the nations.
The commission is made up of 15 members: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
The conference began with a speech from the outgoing ECOWAS president, Alieu Omar Touray, a Gambian diplomat. Touray discussed his gratefulness to allow Gambia to be put in this position and well wishes to the next president, Muhammadu Buhari, the current President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Umaro Sissoco Embaló, the Chairman of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government and President of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, also congratulated Buhari for his “leadership in the community and for committing to safe-guarding democratic norms.” Nigeria reported remitting $100,324,011 to ECOWAS to aid in their efforts to unite the countries in the commision. They added that the Nigerian government is committed to fulfilling its financial obligations to ECOWAS as they have done this past year.
One of the first discussions of the summit was the impending issues of “jihadism” or terrorism done by predominantly Islamic groups in the West African countries. Tourary said that West African leaders need to act “take care of our own security in the region.”
The group made plans to increase military forces in West Africa order to combat jihadist forces, including funding for said operations. West African armies have been using support from outside forces like the UN, France and Russia.
West African leaders at the 62nd summit at the ECOWAS building in Abuja, Nigeria on December 4th. Photo: ECOWAS - Cedeao Facebook Profile.
ECOWAS had a few summits this past year to discuss issues related to the region, specifically the issues regarding Mali’s hold over 46 Ivorian troops for the past 5 months. The Ivorian troops were arrested on July 10 on their arrival at the airport in Mali's capital, Bamako. Mali was asked by Omar Alieu Touray, president of the ECOWAS commission, to release them latest by January 1, 2023.
The troops were originally sent by the Ivory Coast to Mali in a peacekeeping mission by The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). According to the Ivory Coast, they were unfairly detained. Mali claims that troops were mercenaries and placed them in custody under charges for attempting to harm state security.
In September, the ECOWAS Summit decided to devote the majority of the conversations to the events in Mali to try to resolve the crisis, but not much progress has happened since.
Touray said during the summit that the president of Togo, Faure Gnassingbe, has plans to travel to Mali to demand the release of the soldiers. Touray went on to say that the West African bloc was within their right to intervene into Mali if the soldiers are not released by January 1.
There are plans for another summit to take place in early 2023, especially regarding the situation in Mali.