The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, has bemoaned military takeovers in some West African countries, stating that these actions have created unintended consequences and threatened democratic values in the region. He spoke at the 42nd Ordinary Meeting of the ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff in Abuja on Wednesday.
General Musa emphasized that the threat of military takeovers must be eradicated, as it negates the core values and responsibilities of the military profession. He added that in democratic countries, the military must uphold democratic values in line with the principles of their constitutions.
Additionally, the Minister of Defence, Mohammed Abubakar, and his Foreign Affairs counterpart, Yusuf Tuggar, challenged the service chiefs from the regional bloc to tackle terrorism through effective collaboration to combat the illicit movement of small arms and light weapons in the West African sub-region.
The meeting, held at the Defence Headquarters in Nigeria’s capital city Abuja, had regional security as one of its agenda items at a time when the bloc is considering the establishment of a force to counter security challenges. Of the 15 defence chiefs expected at the meeting, those from Cape Verde, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, and Togo were absent.
At the end of the previous meeting in August last year, the defence chiefs had agreed to a comprehensive and holistic approach towards addressing the political, security, and diplomatic dimensions of the situation in Niger Republic. The military regimes in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger had set up a mutual defence pact, leaving the wider Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc in January.
In July, the three countries’ leaders took part in the first summit of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), set up after pulling out of ECOWAS. Their exit from ECOWAS was fueled in part by their accusation that Paris was manipulating the bloc and not providing enough support for anti-jihadist efforts.
