During the 42nd Ordinary Meeting of the ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff in Abuja, General Christopher Musa, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), expressed deep concern about military takeovers in some West African countries.
Musa spoke at the 42nd Ordinary Meeting of the ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff in Abuja on Wednesday.
He emphasized that such actions have led to unintended consequences and posed a threat to democratic values in the region.
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General Musa stressed the importance of eradicating the threat of military takeover, highlighting that it goes against the fundamental values and obligations of the military profession.
Furthermore, he emphasized that in democratic nations, the military should strictly adhere to democratic principles as outlined in their respective constitutions.
During the meeting at the Defence Headquarters in Nigeria’s capital city Abuja, the Minister of Defence, Mohammed Abubakar, and his Foreign Affairs counterpart, Yusuf Tuggar, urged the service chiefs from the regional bloc to work together effectively in addressing terrorism and combating the illegal movement of small arms and light weapons in the West African sub-region.
Regional security was a key agenda at the meeting, coinciding with the bloc’s discussions on establishing a force to address security challenges.
Although 15 defence chiefs were expected to attend, representatives from Cape Verde, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, and Togo were notably absent.
At the conclusion of the last meeting in August of last year, the defense chiefs reached an agreement to take a thorough and all-encompassing approach in addressing the political, security, and diplomatic aspects of the situation in Niger Republic.
The military administrations in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger had established a mutual defense pact, causing them to withdraw from the broader Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc in January.
In July, the leaders of these three countries participated in the inaugural summit of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), which was formed subsequent to their exit from ECOWAS.
Their decision to leave ECOWAS was motivated in part by their allegation that Paris was manipulating the bloc and not offering adequate support for counter-jihadist efforts.
