African leaders at the weekend in a bold move to tackle insecurity, saying that inaction against insecurity is no longer an option.
They therefore declared a united front against the surge in terrorism and violent extremism in West Africa.
The resolution was contained in a joint communiqué issued at the end of a two-day High-Level Consultative Conference on Regional Cooperation and Security held in Accra from January 29 to 30, 2026, which was made available to the media on Sunday.
The Economic Community of West African States agreed to tighten the noose around the borders.
They agreed to bilateral, minilateral or multilateral support in the fight against transnational crimes.
ECOWAS member states also agreed on strengthening regular meetings, sharing of intelligence and the implementation of de-radicalisation programmes.
These are some decisions reached at a high-level consultative meeting on Regional Cooperation and Security held in Accra, Ghana from 29th to 30th January, 2026.
According to the leaders, West Africa now records at least eight terror attacks daily, claiming an average of 44 lives, with more than half of all global terrorism-related deaths occurring in the region.
“Recognising that the Western Africa Region and its immediate neighbours are connected through geography, trade routes, shared ecosystems, and communities whose livelihoods depend mainly on cross-border movements. Our region is currently the global epicentre of terrorism and violent extremism.
“On a daily basis, at least eight (8) terror attacks are recorded, which claims an average of forty-four (44) lives. More than half of all global terrorism-related deaths are recorded in our region. We are witnessing an alarming uptick in extremist attacks for which inaction is not an option,” the communiqué read.
The conference was chaired by Ghana’s President, John Mahama, with Presidents Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone and Joseph Boakai of Liberia leading their respective delegations.
Representatives of Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo also participated.
The leaders stressed that West African countries are bound together by geography, trade routes and shared ecosystems, and that insecurity in one state easily spills over into others.
“Fragmentation incurs heavy economic, social and security costs that diminish our collective problem-solving capacity.
“We must move beyond episodic diplomacy to a structured and permanent framework for cooperation,” the leaders said.
At the end of the meeting, participants reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening regional cooperation to confront evolving peace, security and governance challenges.
“Sustainable security in West Africa calls for a shift toward a human security approach, underpinned by regional solidarity, respect for sovereignty, and a people-centred, gender-responsive approach to peacebuilding,” the communiqué added.
On counterterrorism, the leaders agreed to boost intelligence and information sharing, harmonise legal frameworks and strengthen de-radicalisation programmes.
They also committed to regular meetings to review peace and security obligations and to improve cross-border prosecution of terrorism-related offences while safeguarding human rights.
On border security, the summit endorsed the idea of “hot pursuit” arrangements through bilateral, minilateral or multilateral agreements to combat the fluid movement of criminal and extremist elements.
“To support the fight against transnational crimes, we will consider adopting ‘hot-pursuit’ mechanisms and develop a foundational Memorandum of Understanding and protocols on cooperation and security,” the leaders said.
They agreed that the draft MoU would be prepared within three months and finalised within six months under the leadership of Ghana’s foreign minister, to serve as the legal basis for deeper security cooperation.
Recognising that military responses alone cannot secure lasting peace, the leaders also pledged to prioritise human security issues such as food security, healthcare, job creation and education.
“Military responses alone cannot ensure lasting peace. We must bolster local governance so that the state is felt through service delivery, not only through security enforcement,” the communiqué further noted.
The summit further acknowledged climate change as a “threat multiplier” and resolved to integrate climate and food security into regional peace planning, alongside a collective disaster preparedness and humanitarian response framework.
Looking ahead, the leaders agreed to make the consultative conference a biannual platform and to establish a mechanism to track implementation of the decisions taken.
