ECOWAS parliament calls for increased regional Security to prevent coup

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament has urged for increased regional security to prevent unlawful changes in the region’s administration.

The call came at the conclusion of a delocalised meeting of the ECOWAS Parliamentary Joint Committees on Political Affairs, Peace, Security, and the African Peer Review Mechanism, Judicial Affairs and Human Rights, Social Affairs, Gender, and Women Empowerment, which took place in Monrovia, Liberia, from July 25 to July 28.

The meeting was conducted in the aftermath of a recent coup in Niger, as well as other recent coups in the region.

The draft report delivered at the meeting’s conclusion urged the ECOWAS Commission to work hard in partnership with the African Union and key partners to boost collective regional security operations.

It also asked the ECOWAS Commission to maintain discussion with transitional authorities in Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso, as well as to build procedures to allow the ECOWAS Parliament to be proactive in conflict prevention and management.

The study also urged member states to concentrate military commands in order to avoid the establishment of elite military groups or parallel armed formations whose command and control are not centralized.

Senator Edwin Snowe, Leader of the Liberian Delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament, decried the military encroachment on democratic governance in the area in an interview with journalists at the close of the meeting, calling it a farce on the region’s democracy that must be halted.

Senator Snowe voiced confidence in the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, Chair of the ECOWAS Heads of State Authority, to intervene in the Republic of Niger’s unlawful change of government.