Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have, once again, shunned the 43rd Ordinary Meeting of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff, which was held at the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) in Abuja.
The Sahelian nations have consistently boycotted ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff meetings since they announced their exit from the regional bloc on 28 January 2024.
Their exit not only depleted the numerical strength of ECOWAS and fractured its integration effort, but also altered existing regional security cooperation and collaboration aimed at fighting insurgency and other transnational organised crime in the Sahel, Lake Chad Basin and West Africa.
To this end, the ECOWAS Defence Chiefs met in Abuja this week to develop a new security strategy to fill the void created by the exit of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso.
Speaking during the meeting, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace, and Security, Amb. Abdel-Fatau Musah, said the meeting would be a pledging exercise towards the counter-terrorism effort.
According to him, “The member states have already pledged a contingent that will form a corps of brigade to fight terrorism in the region. So, with three of our member states withdrawing, that has become a bit obsolete.
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