Accra, Feb. 28, GNA – The ECOWAS Forum on National Security Advisors (FNSA) at a two-day conference resolved to enhance rapid and appropriate regional response to the emerging security threats in the West African Sub-region.
The conference, with closed-door sessions, in an effort to better appreciate the emerging security threats, discussed, among other things, the gaps in early warning and early response, and the sharing of experiences of member states.
It was attended by National Security Advisors of Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Seirra Leone, and Togo; representatives of the ECOWAS Political Affairs, Peace and Security Commision and Early Warning Directorate; security experts; and observers from the Africa Centre or Strategic Studies (ACSS).
The two-day conference follows an endorsement by the ECOWAS Authority of Head of States and Governments at its 59th Ordinary Session in Accra for the creation of a permanent FNSA to enhance the optimisation of synergies among the various security, defence, and intelligence agencies across the ECOWAS region.
It was on the theme: “Enhancing Rapid and Appropriate Regional Responses to Emerging Security Threat in West Africa: Bridging the Gaps between Early Warning and Early Response”.
It comes on the back of recent coup d’états in the West African Sub-Region and the increasing terrorist and violent extremist attacks, with the potential of undermining the regional integration process.
In the span of 18 months, three successful coups have been recorded with one attempted but failed military takeover.
In addressing the gaps in early warnings and response, the Forum identified strategic approaches, including the building and strengthening collective regional response capabilities to the common regional security threats including effective cooperation in boarder management.
Also, the operationalisation of the ECOWAS Stand-by Force to enhance its effectiveness and efficiency, the intensification of efforts at full integration – a multiple-geometric approach – was identified as an insurance for peace and stability within the sub-region.
The conference recommended the building capabilities for anticipating regional security threats, including the intensification and strengthening of intelligence gathering, analysis, and stability within the West African Sub-region.
It said it would develop regional security strategies that focused on human security as an insurance for sub-regional peace, security, and stability.
Brigadier General Emmanuel Okyere (Rtd), National Security Advisor of the Republic of Ghana, who chaired the closed-door meetings, told the Ghana News Agency that the conference affirmed the role of the FNSA as a permanent organ of the ECOWAS and a trusted platform for dialogue, information, and intelligence sharing for collective regional response to security in West Africa.
He said the meeting also upheld the responsibilities of the FNSA to provide advice to the Mediation and Security Council (MSC) on matters related to regional and emerging threats, while assisting the MSC on matters related to regional security, particularly supporting the prevention of conflict mechanism, through anticipation and foresight capabilities.
Ghana’s National Security Advisor said the FNSA would also provide analysis, studies and evidence-based recommendations on matters related to regional security as requested by ECOWAS and its Member States.
The conference, he noted, unanimously adopted the FNSA Regulation to be known as “The Regulations of the ECOWAS Forum of National Security Advisors” as the framework to guide and regulate the effective and efficient functioning of the FNSA.
Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, said given that the West African space faced a complex plethora of security challenges ranging from violent extremism, terrorism, transnational organised crime, maritime insecurity, cybersecurity risks to public health emergencies, among others, the FNSA was needed to strategise and nip such threats in the bud.
Those challenges, she said had, in some instances, manifested, sadly, in the emerging trend of coup d’états in Burkina Faso and Mali, posing a serious challenge to the decades of efforts toward the development, growth and consolidation of democracy in the region.
She said whilst there existed a systematic monitoring mechanism of peace and security in the region, through a network of field monitors and human security indicators, that provided real-time information and data for short, medium, and long-term trend analysis, the Early Warning and Response Networks would need to be adapted to stay relevant to address current and emerging security challenges.
The Foreign Minister said: “West Africa is at a crossroad. It requires the harnessing of all its resources, and the FNSA is a critical resource to bring about the much-needed transformation of the security situation in the region”.
GNA