West African leaders on Sunday acknowledged a deepening crisis of unrest and political instability engulfing the region.
“Our region is at the crossroads,” declared Sierra Leone’s Julius Maada Bio, as he assumed the rotating chairmanship of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) from Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu.
Speaking in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, Bio outlined the grave challenges: insecurity in the Sahel, terrorism, political turmoil, arms trafficking, and transnational organised crime.
He called for an urgent overhaul of the bloc’s collective security framework, urging better intelligence-sharing and a swifter military response to emerging threats.
“The democratic space is under strain in parts of our region — the constitutional order has been disrupted,” Bio warned.
A wave of coups and attempted putsches has unsettled nearly half of ECOWAS’s founding members over the past decade. Relations between neighbouring countries are now frayed.
Earlier this year, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger — each ruled by military juntas — withdrew from ECOWAS to form their own alliance.
Insurgent groups are exploiting these divisions, gaining ground across the Sahel and Lake Chad regions. Recent months have seen bloody raids in Mali, urban incursions in Burkina Faso, and devastating attacks on Niger’s military forces.
Nigeria, the summit’s host, is itself reeling from a surge in assaults targeting civilians and military installations.
Outgoing ECOWAS chair Tinubu lamented the “stark and consistent challenges” facing the region, including the growing menace of violent extremism and cross-border crime.
Though the military rulers of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger vowed to prioritise security, insurgent violence continues to escalate, now threatening West Africa’s coastal nations.
