President Akufo-Addo has disclosed that the maintenance of peace and security in West Africa has proven challenging over the years.

According to him, although ECOWAS was established to promote “economic cooperation” and integration in West Africa, the devastating impact of conflicts and civil wars that engulfed many parts of the region has led to the quick realization that its economic progress is hinged on the presence of peace, security and stability.

President Akufo-Addo underscored that as part of ECOWAS’s search for “sustainable solutions” to the myriad of security challenges that confronted member states, it led to the adoption of specific legal and “normative frameworks” of which the “1999 conflict mechanism and the 2001 supplementary protocol” proved useful. The adoption of these frameworks, the President indicated, marked a turning point in the political evolution of ECOWAS.

“On the basis of these and preceding frameworks, ECOWAS has demonstrated knowledge and has learnt critical lessons from three decades of interventions in conflicts across the region. However, to be part of our successes is not to be blind to our weaknesses or to lose sight of the critical threats that continues to undermine security in the region. The maintenance of peace and security remains a critical challenge in West Africa region [as we] are generally grappling with extraordinary sources of threats that undermine both state and human security”.
President Akufo-Addo

Speaking at the second edition of the Kofi Annan Peace and Security Forum, on the theme: ‘Democracy and Governance in the Context of Complex Crises in West Africa’, President Akufo-Addo revealed that the holding of the conference is timely, especially at a time when the “avowed goal” of establishing democracy in sustainable peace in West Africa is being put to a “stern” test.

Challenges confronting West Africa region

Citing challenges the West Africa region is saddled with, President Akufo-Addo indicated that the most recent of these challenges has been COVID-19 which has eroded a substantial measure of economic gains chalked in recent years. He noted that it’s threatening to worsen the already fragile security situation in many parts of the region.

“Other sources of threats relate to unacceptable changes of [term leaders], poverty and economic stagnation, the youth bulge in youth unemployment, farmer-herder conflicts, environmental degradation as well as transnational organised criminality such as maritime [and] piracy of our economies…”
President Akufo-Addo

To ameliorate the situation, President Akufo-Addo has urged members to work hard to achieve the goal by ridding the region of such threats. He revealed that Ghana’s candidature for non-permanent seat in the United Nation’s Security Council for the years 2022 and 2023 which was successful, garnered the country the “highest” number of votes on the day. This, he explained, puts Ghana at an advantageous position to ensure that Africa’s “voice is heard loud and clear” in the deliberations of the Council, both on matters affecting the continent, region and on global issue.

President Akufo-Addo thus pledged that the country will consult broadly to define Africa’s interest. He indicated that with the continent and individuals confronted by multiple threats, it will be the country’s duty to ensure the Council does not reduce its peacekeeping mandate on the continent.