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ECOWAS to continue efficiently fighting terrorism in Africa — UN official

It was decided at a summit of the ECOWAS in Bissau last July "to revive ECOWAS standby force," Leonardo Santos Simao noted

MOSCOW, March 28. /TASS/. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will continue efficiently fighting terrorism in the region, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for West Africa and the Sahel Leonardo Santos Simao said in an interview with TASS.

"Yes, because there are two initiatives here," he said when asked whether ECOWAS would be capable of fighting terrorism after Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger decided to quit the organization.

It was decided at a summit of the ECOWAS in Bissau last July "to revive ECOWAS standby force," the UN envoy noted. "That military force will be deployed to assist this country to fight terrorism. It was in beginning of July. By the end of July, there was this coup in Niger, which changed everything. But now that decision to revive has been resumed by ECOWAS. ECOWAS now is working in the practical aspects of reviving this stand-by force. So they will come as a practical support to these countries," he explained, adding that "the modalities are going to be discussed between ECOWAS and each one of the countries affected."

The UN Security Council also decided to provide support to African Union-led efforts to fight terrorism in December 2023, the diplomat said. "Through African Union, support to fight terrorism is going to be channeled to regional organizations and, ultimately, to each one of the countries in need. So that means that the convergence of these two sources of support, plus the bilateral arrangements each one of the countries has, will boost the capacity of the region to fight back terrorism," Simao concluded.

On January 28, 2024, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger decided to withdraw immediately from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which they said instead of helping the three nations fight against terrorism only provoked a further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Sahel countries by means of its sanctions.

The authorities of those three countries announced on March 6 that a joint force would be created to combat terrorist groups operating in the African Sahel region.

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