The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has revealed that over 3,500 terrorist attacks were recorded in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger Republic in 2023 which resulted in nearly 7,000 deaths.
ECOWAS Commission, however, said the regional bloc was establishing a terrorism force to curtail the challenge.
The Commissioner of Political Affairs, Peace and Security, ECOWAS Commission, Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musa disclosed this at the weekly press briefing of the ECOWAS Commission held on Friday in Abuja.
Fatau said that almost 2,000 attacks were recorded in Burkina Faso, over 1,044 in Mali, and 500 in Niger Republic.
He explained, “The whole geographical area of West Africa is rich in human and natural resources. However, our geographic area is an area of immense vulnerability.
“Particularly the Sahel countries; in 2023 alone, over 3,500 terrorist attacks were recorded.
“This includes close to 2,000 in Burkina Faso, over 1,044 in Mali, and 500 in Niger Republic. These incidents resulted in close to 7,000 fatalities in the three Sahel countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
“In the three Sahel countries, a total of 4.8 million people faced food insecurity, 2.4 million people were internally displaced and close to 9,000 schools remain closed in the region.
“Burkina Faso has already taken over from Afghanistan.”
The commissioner, however, assured that the unit called Counter Terrorism Force would be soon unveiled to address the terrorism challenges and the region will soon work out modalities to finance the force.
“On terrorism, you would recall during that the previous ECOWAS meeting, the Heads of State decided that there was a need to create a counter-terrorism force to help fight terrorism in the region. This is presently underway.
“Very soon, there will be a meeting of Ministers of Finance and Defence to work out the modalities of raising our own resources in the region to finance that counter-terrorism force,” he said.
The three military junta-led Sahel countries have been giving the 15-nation bloc ECOWAS, sleepless nights after their threats to pull out from the community formed in 1975.
Military takeovers happened in the region started in 2020 as Mali experienced in 2020 and 2021, Burkina Faso in 2022 and, Niger in 2023.