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The
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said yesterday that
the incessant insecurity in the West Africa sub-region is a serious
distraction to the entrenchment of enduring democratic governance and
values in member-states.

The Council, made
up of ministers in the ECOWAS member-states in charge of security, has
a role to play in the effort towards sustaining peace and security in
the ECOWAS sub-region.

Odein Ajumogobia,
Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs minister, who made the observation at the
opening of the two-day ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council meeting in
Abuja, expressed regrets that the quest for lasting solutions to the
problem has taken prime attention over effort to mobilise resources
from the international community for the development of the sub-region.

“Urgent attention
needs to be given to the issue of Security Sector Reforms (SSR) in
member-states. In Guinea Conakry,Guinea Bissau, and Niger Republic, the
Armed Forces there and other ECOWAS member-states must be transformed
into professional armies that are subordinate to constitutional
authority and civil democratic rule,” Mr. Ajumogobia said.

He reassured the
Council of President Goodluck Jonathan’s commitment to the sustenance
of democracy and good governance in the sub-region, adding that the
administration is determined to continue Nigeria’s constructive
collaboration with the ECOWAS Commission and other sub-regional
organisations to find lasting solutions to the political crises in
member-states.

Apart from working
as a team to ensure a free, transparent and credible election in Guinea
Conakry in June 27, 2010, the minister enjoined ECOWAS member-states to
also encourage the Council for Restoration of Democracy (CRD) in Niger
Republic to fully implement its transition agenda for the election of a
democratic leadership in the country.

The minister drew
attention to the menace of small arms and light weapons (SALWs) as a
serious threat to the peace and security of the sub-region, adding that
though significant progress has been made in installing democracy in
most member-states, there is still a long way to go.

No new conflict

James Gbeho, the
President, ECOWAS Commission, noted the steady improvements in the
security environment in the region since last year, particularly in the
areas of advances in democratic restoration and consolidation, as well
as national reconciliation and development.

Mr. Gbeho
identified the absence of open conflict in the last decade, as well as
the successful presidential elections in Togo, and the breakthrough in
the inter-Togolese dialogue with the formation of an inclusive
government in the country, as indices of the growing political
stability in the region, though he noted the challenge of palpable
uncertainty over elections in Cote D’Ivoire and Guinea Bissau.

Apart from the
challenge of famine, Mr. Gbeho said the problem of drug trafficking and
other transnational organised crimes, like money laundering and human
trafficking, constitute mortal danger to politics and the region’s
growth.

He called for efforts to be intensified between ECOWAS and the
international community through the agency of the West African Office
of the United Nations on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) in the implementation
of the West African Action Plan on Drugs, to help bring to an end the
drugs scourge in the region.