Expert Cautions Ecowas Leadership on Implications
……. As Webinar On Niger ends with a Unanimous,” No War on Niger”.
Report: Mohammed A. Abu
Panelists in a discussion session during an international webinar on the Niger crisis held over the weekend under the auspices of the Diasporan Alliance for Peace, Unity and Progress(DAPUPA), unanimously vied for a diplomatic solution rather than military action arguing that, any such act wasn’t going to be in the collective best interest of the people of the West African sub region and for that matter,Africa as whole.
Held under the theme, “No War on Niger”, the three-hour long event was well subscribed to and drew about seventy (70) participants from within Africa and various parts of the world.
Lined up on the panel were Dr. Antumi Toasije, Global History Professor at New York University, in Madrid Spain, who also doubles as the President of the Council for the Elimination of Racial and Ethnic Discrimination, Akyaaba Addai Sebo, Pan African Analyst and Founder of Black History Month in Britain, Chief Solomon Salifu Tampuri,Sub Chief, Bole Traditional Area, Savannah Region,Ghana,Kofi Mawuli Klu,Independent Scholar Activist,Researcher,Community Advocate and Educationist specializing in Pan African Community,London,UK,Emmanuel Kwabla Kpeglah,Journalist and Security Expert, PHD student in International Development Studies, University of Jyvaskila,Finland currently doing his field work.
Various other high profile personalities also added their voices to the “No war on Niger” call. This included two diasporan Nigeriens Abdoul Mossi and Professor Sahid Bilan whose beef was the trend of keeping mute over the root causes of military takeovers in the Sahel region and rather placing too much emphasis on the coup itself.
The root causes of the military takeover in the Sahel, they contended, included, autocratic governance rather than true democratic governance, economic impoverishment of the people due to Frances’s modern day colonialism and economic enslavement of her colonial masters.
One of the panelists, Emmanuel Kwabla Kpeglah, called on Ecowas leadership to listen to the voice of the people as any military intervention in Niger on the back of already imposed sanctions would have a number of far reaching implications for the Sahel sub region
Making particular reference to the already existing threat of insecurity due to numerous attacks by religious militant groups in the Sahel region, Mr. Kpeglah cautioned that any Ecowas military intervention in Niger would escalate the already existing security volatility across the Sahel region.
He disclosed that about 11,000 schools in the Sahel region have so far been affected in the region due to the attacks.
Terrorism in the Sahel UN figures has it attacks for 2023 is 1,814, and 4,593 deaths, nearly 30 million in food needs which is expected to go up to 42 million by the end of August, while displaced people are 63 million.
According to a UN Press Release, dated 25th August,2023, Vladimir Voronkov, Under-Secretary-General of the Office of Counter-Terrorism, presenting the Secretary-General’s seventeenth report on the threat posed by Da’esh to international peace and security, warned that the Da’esh affiliate in the Sahel is becoming increasingly autonomous and intensifying attacks in Mali, Burkina Faso and the Niger.
“Beyond Africa, the situation in Afghanistan is growing progressively complex, with fears of weapons and ammunition falling into the hands of terrorists now materializing”, the release added.
