“The Accidental Ecowas
& AU Citizen”:
West Africa Rising…in Regional Instability?
By
E.K.Bensah Jr
In 2010, Spain made sports headline news for winning both the
World Cup in South Africa and having its national – Rafael Nadal – become the first man to win three straight
major tournaments in the same year. In 2011, the West African state of Burkina
Faso has made ECOWAS history by winning both ECOWAS’s answer to the “tour de
France” (the 2nd edition of
the ECOWAS International
Cycling Tour which ended in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire last week), and the
top-job of ECOWAS Commission President. The new ECOWAS Head is former Prime
Minister and current Ambassador of Burkina Faso to Brussels HE Kadré Désiré
Ouedraogo who will serve in this capacity for four years.
If sports were ever a credible
harbinger of politics and/or a country’s future, then Ghana’s loss at the
Africa Cup of Nations 2012 (AFCON) probably should have been an indicator that
the out-gone James Victor Gbeho departure was a foregone conclusion. Sadly,
that logic is blown to smithereens when we realize that while Ghana earned 3rd
position at the ECOWAS Cycling tour, it could only leave with its tail between
it legs at AFCON, ending up a sorry fourth.
On a serious note, some might say
that West Africa’s been in the news for the wrong reasons. Once again, we have
what some might call the establishment of a geriatric leader in Senegal’s Wade
seeking to entrench his gerontocracy by standing a third term. Despite the ‘boo’s
he received at the polls during the commencement of the election on Sunday 26th,
he remains steadfast in seeking his third term.
Neither the 150 election
observers that ECOWAS dispatched to Senegal (comprising members from some of
the ECOWAS institutions, such as the Council of the Wise; reps of the Community
Court of Justice; ECOWAS Parliament; including legal and civil society electoral
experts from West Africa), nor the AU/ECOWAS envoy Obasanjo has been able to do
anything concrete to get Wade to consider his position. Truth be told, it is
the former Nigerian leader—more than anyone—who has been tasked with the
mandate of formulating a solution to the political permafrost. Regrettably, the
only solution that has come thus far from Obasanjo has been for Wade—in the event
of a win—to step down after two years.
Inevitably, the Western press is
likely to have a field day (and frankly, so will African press!) that here is
Obasanjo once again having failed to bring closure in 2011 to a crisis in Cote
d’Ivoire and failing yet again in this instance. Elsewhere, some might have
called for another envoy to have been appointed. It remains unclear who exactly
appointed him as an AU/ECOWAS envoy. Although the decision was taken at the 40th
Ordinary Session that was represented by the 15 ECOWAS leaders, it is unclear
whether it was a consensus choice. Still, that a plenipotentiary-of-sorts was
dispatched at all speaks volumes of an emerging structure that the sub-region
and the AU so badly needs.
ECOWAS emerging structures and the Mali crisis
While it might not be very clear
to West Africans and other observers how elections observers were sent to
Senegal, what we do know is that—and something that must be communicated more
clearly to deflect perceptions of inertia on development in the sub-region—it
is under ECOWAS’ Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance that
enjoins ECOWAS member states to send observer missions to member states
conducting presidential elections ‘as part of its determination to ensure
democratic convergence across the sub-region.’
Another important structure has
been that of the ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff(CCDS) to review
emerging security threats in the sub-region. In this case, however, following
the 40th Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State from
16-17th February, they have been tasked to review threats that
pertain to the Sahel region and the Gulf of Guinea.
There is no secret to why the
CCDS is meeting. The major reason has been because of Mali, where Tuareg
fighters demanding an autonomous Azawad region are reported to have attacked no
less than six Northern towns in the past month. Government forces have
responded with helicopter gunships and heavy weapons fire. The violence has
displaced at least 55000 people, with many taking refuge in neighbouring
countries.
On ECOWAS’ part, while the
Authority has strongly condemned the MNLA rebellion in Mali and expressed its
full support for efforts being exerted by Mali to ‘defend its territorial
integrity’, the sub-regional organisation has not only called for “an immediate
and unconditional cessation of hostilities by the rebels’’, but also approved
the release of three million US dollars to assist Mali deal with the
humanitarian consequences of the rebellion. In addition, ECOWAS has called on
humanitarian agencies, as well as the International Community, to join ECOWAS
to take all necessary measures that would “guarantee protection, relief and
succor for the populations adversely affected by the crises in Mali and Niger.”
Regrettably, it seems like West
Africa is truly rising – as far as regional instability is concerned, for there
remain threats of piracy and organized crime in the Gulf of Guinea. To this
end, the ECOWAS Commission has been tasked to urgently develop a holistic
strategic maritime policy framework to guide future actions and cooperation –
even to the extent of soliciting collaboration and assistance from the Economic
Community of Central African States(ECCAS) so as to ensure that challenges have
been confronted in a concerted manner.
Make no mistake: ECOWAS has what
is acknowledged not just among the seven other AU-recognised regional economic
communities (RECs), but worldwide, what is acknowledged to be a sophisticated
Peace and Security Architecture.
If you have forgotten, allow me
to remind you that at a time after the fall of the Berlin Wall when a
then-timorous USA and prevaricating UN Security Council was reluctant to act in
Liberia, ECOWAS got involved itself in conflict management on an ad hoc basis,
thanks, according to academic Dr. Niagalé Bagayoko, “to the set up in 1990 of a sub-regional
intervention force, ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG)”. He continues that ECOMOG
‘acted as a buffer force in Liberia (1990-1998), in Sierra Leone (1997-2000) in
Guinea-Bissau (1998-1999), in Côte d‟Ivoire (2003) and again in Liberia
(2003)’. It would be in 1999, that a Protocol creating the ECOWAS Mechanism for
Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution, Peace-keeping and Security
would be adopted.
Now while I may have liberally
hinted West Africa is rising in regional instability, it certainly is a West
Africa rising – for many more positive reasons, which will be played out over
the weeks!
