Nearly 2000 attacks were recorded in Burkina Faso alone with 1044 in Mali, and 500 in Niger Republic respectively, the 15-member nation regional bloc disclosed on Friday weekly press briefing in Abuja, Nigeria's capital.
The Economic Community of West African States says terrorists killed about 7000 residents in over 3,500 attacks in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger Republic in 2023.
Nearly 2000 attacks were recorded in Burkina Faso alone with 1044 in Mali, and 500 in Niger Republic respectively, the 15-member nation regional bloc disclosed on Friday weekly press briefing in Abuja, Nigeria's capital.
The Commissioner of Political Affairs, Peace and Security, ECOWAS Commission, Amb. Abdel-Fatau Musa, who briefed reporters, revealed that regional bloc was establishing a terrorism force to address the challenge.
“The whole geographical area of West Africa is rich in human and natural resources. However, our geographic area is an area of immense vulnerability," Musa explained adding. “Particularly the Sahel countries; in 2023 alone, over 3,500 terrorist attacks were recorded."
“This includes close to 2,000 in Burkina Faso, over 1,044 in Mali, and 500 in Niger Republic. These incidents resulted in close to 7,000 fatalities in the three Sahel countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
“In the three Sahel countries, a total of 4.8 million people faced food insecurity, 2.4 million people were internally displaced and close to 9,000 schools remain closed in the region.
“Burkina Faso has already taken over from Afghanistan.”
On the creation of Counter Terrorism Force to tackle the challenge, Musa explained that bloc was working the modalities to finance the force.
“On terrorism, you would recall during that the previous ECOWAS meeting, the Heads of State decided that there was a need to create a counter-terrorism force to help fight terrorism in the region. This is presently underway.
“Very soon, there will be a meeting of Ministers of Finance and Defence to work out the modalities of raising our own resources in the region to finance that counter-terrorism force,” he said.