Source: United Nations General Assembly and Security Council
In a region grappling with escalating threats due to violent non-State actors, civic restrictions, political transitions and heightened humanitarian needs, the head of UN efforts in West Africa and the Sahel called on the Security Council for scaled up support within regional frameworks, as speakers welcomed small signs of progress on the democratic front.
Leonardo Santos Simão, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), presenting the latest Secretary-General’s report (document S/2024/871), reported that he just attended the 15 December Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Summit, where Heads of State took note of the decision of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger to withdraw from the organization. ECOWAS responded with an offer of six months for dialogue to encourage those countries to remain, he added. Regional leaders unanimously acknowledge insecurity as the region’s most urgent concern, with terrorists becoming increasingly aggressive, and utilizing sophisticated weaponry, including drones, he said, also drawing attention the spread, beyond the Sahel, of violent extremism and organized crime to northern Benin and Togo, and the Gulf of Guinea countries.
To address such threats, he called for the Council to scale up support within regional frameworks. While the announced operationalization of the ECOWAS Standby Force is a positive step, the Group of Five for the Sahel (G5 Sahel) joint force has ceased operations, and the Accra Initiative is undergoing restructuring, to model the Multinational Joint Task Force, “the primary security cooperation mechanism in the Lake Chad Basin region, and the only functioning platform for cooperation on regional security in West Africa and the Sahel”. He went on to highlight a trip in November to Chad with Special Representative Abdou Abarry, Head of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), during which they met the Lake Chad Basin Commission as well as a camp for internally displaced persons — of whom the country presently hosts 2 million, amid severe flooding, with the worsening humanitarian situation in other countries leading to further displacement. In this context, he urged support for the underfunded humanitarian appeal, which is less than 50 per cent funded. Addressing climate resilience, he spotlighted meetings held between stakeholders to discuss the transboundary management of water at the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference in Baku, and welcomed the visit, in December, of the Council’s informal expert group on climate change, peace and security to the Lake Chad Basin region.
On human rights issues, he deplored the closing of 8,200 schools in the region, due to insecurity and expressed concern about persisting human rights violations and civic restrictions in Guinea and Central Sahel. However, he welcomed progress in fighting impunity, citing the conviction of those responsible for the 2009 Guinea stadium massacre. Detailing progress in the region on the democratic front, he noted his visit to Ghana during the presidential and legislative elections; as well as taking note of legislative elections in Senegal on 17 November, Côte d’Ivoire on track to its 2025 presidential elections and Liberia making progress in democratic consolidation. However, in Guinea-Bissau, the parliamentary elections planned for November 2024 have been postponed sine die, he said, also pointing out that, in the Gambia, 2025 will be a critical year for the adoption of constitutional reforms, due to a political environment in which consensus has eroded.
The Council also heard from Levinia Addae-Mensah, Executive Director, West Africa Network for Peacebuilding, a network encompassing 750 civil society organizations across the region, who described a “heightened security threat profile”, leading to expanding zones of instability and ungoverned spaces in the region, due to recent democratic transformations and security challenges stemming from the growing strength of terrorist and violent extremist groups in the Sahel and some coastal States. Citing data from the group’s early warning system indicates that 76 per cent of armed attacks occurred around tri-border communities with inadequate State presence, she pointed out that “cascaded negative effects” of such dynamics led to challenges, including the closing of 12,000 schools, exacerbating the vulnerability of girls to early marriage, female genital mutilation and trafficking.
Despite these challenges, she took note of positive trends, including progress towards democratic governance in Liberia, Senegal and Ghana; strengthened early warning systems and response mechanisms; and development of national and local infrastructures for peace. Despite the shrinking of civic spaces, her organization is strengthening resilience through initiatives, such as Security Consultative Committees, which it introduced in Mali, she said, pointing out that such “a dichotomous reality” underscores the value of organic approaches to peacebuilding. In closing, she highlighted processes that presented opportunities to reset approaches to addressing threats in the region, including the 2025 review of United Nations Peacebuilding Architecture and the Africa Facility to Support Inclusive Transitions.
In the ensuing discussion, many speakers echoed concerns about the security situation in the region, with several urging support for regional security initiatives. Among them was the representative of Sierra Leone, co-penholder on the file, speaking also for Algeria, Guyana and Mozambique, who urged predictable funding for regional security mechanisms, spotlighting the importance of the Multinational Joint Task Force in fighting terrorist groups in the Lake Chad Basin, and the potential of a fully operationalized Accra Initiative in addressing security threats, including the recruitment and radicalization of young people in the region.
Switzerland’s delegate called for a holistic approach to security, stressing that insecurity also hinders the improvement of the socioeconomic and humanitarian situation in the region. Voicing alarm about the persistence and spread of armed conflict, terrorism and violent extremism, she said: “It is necessary to engage in actions to maintain and promote dialogue and social cohesion, and to tackle the root causes of fragility.”
The representative of the Republic of Korea concurred, pointing out that the “lack of coordinated regional responses and fragmented counter-terrorism efforts heighten the risk of terrorist expansion across the Central Sahel and into coastal States”. He therefore encouraged ECOWAS and regional States to foster effective collaboration to counter terrorism and transnational organized crime, an appeal echoed by the representative of Japan.
Also on the security front, the United Kingdom underscored that “private military security companies — like the Wagner Group and Africa Corps — are not the answer”. Rather, these entities have a track record of worsening existing conflicts and undermining long-term development and stability. On the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the region, he called for more humanitarian access, highlighting his Government’s support for more than 16 million people in the Sahel since 2019.
Similarly, the representative of the United States, Council President for December, speaking in her national capacity, warned that, amid Governments’ struggle to reclaim control over territory, leaders who engage in heavy-handed counter-terrorism tactics, while neglecting to address the drivers of marginalization, are only worsening the security situation.
However, the Russian Federation’s delegate countered that the fractious security situation “is the heavy burden of the consequences of the military aggression waged by Western countries against Libya — a burden borne, to this day, by all States in the region”. Long-term stability in the Sahel requires the international community to support Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso “who stand at the forefront of the fight against pan-African terrorist groups”, she added, also stressing that the Council should respect the decision by members of the Alliance of Sahel States to leave ECOWAS.
Meanwhile, China’s delegate called for the international community to “maintain necessary patience” with countries in transition and provide them with “small constructive support”. Countries in the region must foster collective security and continuously enhance counter-terrorism cooperation, he said. To that end, his country, as announced at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in September, will provide expertise and support to the African Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism and United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism Programme Office for Counter-Terrorism and Training in Africa.
Malta’s delegate was among several speakers highlighting democratic concerns, welcoming Ghana’s introduction of a 40 to 50 per cent target of women in elected and appointed positions. However, she urged transitional Governments to adhere to previously agreed electoral timelines, pointing to postponed elections in Guinea-Bissau and Burkina Faso, as well as similar negative trends in the Gambia and Nigeria.
Addressing the humanitarian picture, Guyana’s representative, also speaking for Switzerland, as the Council’s informal co-focal points on conflict and hunger, noted that, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 48.6 million people throughout the region were projected to experience food insecurity in the “critical June and August lean period”, mainly due to worsening security conditions in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Nigeria. She called for increased international support, particularly in capacity-building; respect for international humanitarian law to protect humanitarian personnel, as well as objects indispensable to civilian survival; and a comprehensive overview that acknowledges the interrelated nature of existing and emerging challenges, including food insecurity.
Many delegates drew attention to the exacerbating impact of climate change on the regional humanitarian situation, including Ecuador’s representative, who called on the international community to intensify its efforts in providing aid, and Slovenia’s delegate, who warned that: “Crop failures, combined with the local grievances and ongoing instability create a fertile ground for recruitment by extremist armed groups.” In this context, she echoed the Secretary-General’s call for countries in the region and ECOWAS to develop conflict-sensitive climate adaptation plans as part of comprehensive peacebuilding strategies.
France’s representative concurred, observing that, by making access to resources difficult, climate change impacts “are an additional hurdle in West Africa”. France has therefore renewed its support to regional climate, peace and security mechanisms to address these challenges. He added that improving the situation in the region requires a peaceful political climate, common commitment by all actors to pursue dialogue, a return to constitutional order and universal respect for human rights and the freedoms of association and expression.
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