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Defence and finance ministers from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) met in the Nigerian capital Abuja to decide on the size of the potential force and the funding required.
Coup-prone West Africa is grappling with a series of political crises that have undermined regional cooperation. In January, military-ruled Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali decided to withdraw from the 15-member bloc.
Soldiers in all three countries have staged coups since 2020, accusing civilian leaders of allowing Islamist militants to gain the upper hand. Once in power, the military juntas tore up defense agreements with U.S., French and U.N. forces and invited the Russians to replace them.
Nigerian Defense Minister Mohammed Badaru Abubakar told the conference there are two options for forming a regional force: one is to build a 5,000-man brigade at a cost of $2.6 billion per year; the other is to build 1,500 officers and soldiers at a cost of $481 million per year.
“These figures underscore the magnitude of the task ahead of us. We must therefore carefully examine the options, given the challenges currently facing our region and the fiscal problems facing our member states,” Abubakar said.
Abubakar added that the regional force would not be used to overthrow the coup but would be limited to fighting terrorism. He said each member state would contribute a certain percentage.
Omar Touré, chairman of the ECOWAS Commission, said the suspended members would not be excluded from the regional force.
“We believe that we cannot fight terrorism alone without the involvement of other countries,” Touré said.
“While other countries may be banned, they should be allowed to attend security-related meetings, which is why we have invited all 15 member states to this important meeting.”
Source: Reuters ABUJA (Reuters) –
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