No fewer than 3,t00 terrorist attacks was recorded in the sub-region in 2023, the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS said on Friday.
ECOWAS Commission said it also recorded about 9,000 death as a result of terrorism attack with the same period under review.
Consequently, the Commissioner of Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Amb. Abdel-Fatau Musa, said the regional bloc is establishing an Anti-Terrorism Force to address the challenge.
Musa spoke at the weekly press briefing of the ECOWAS Commission on Friday in Abuja.
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.
“In 2023 alone, about 3,500 terrorist attacks were recorded in the ECOWAS region alone. This includes close to 2,000 in Burkina Faso, over 1,044 in Mali, and 500 in Niger Republic. These incidents have resulted in close to 9,000 fatalities including 7,000 in the three Sahel countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
“In the three Sahel countries, a total of 4.8million people faced food insecurity, 2.4million people were internally displaced and close to 9,000 schools remain closed in the region.
“Burkina Faso has already taken over from Afghanistan”
On the creation of Counter Terrorism Force, Musa said that 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 ECOWAS Commissioner also applauded the announced formation of joint anti terrorism force by Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger Republic.
He said it was a welcome development.
