The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has announced plans to deploy a 260,000-strong rapid response counter-terrorism brigade to strengthen the fight against insurgency in the region.
President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Omar Touray, revealed this at the inaugural African Chiefs of Defence Staff Summit on Monday in Abuja. He was represented by Amb. Abdel-Fattah Musah, Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security.
Touray said the force would provide logistics and financial backing to frontline states, noting that Defence and Finance Ministers of member countries will meet in Abuja on Friday to finalise modalities for an annual $2.5 billion budget.
He explained that the initiative, designed to complement the African Union’s standby force, had become necessary due to worsening security challenges in the subregion. According to him, the Sahel now accounts for 51 per cent of terrorism-related deaths worldwide in 2024, with women, children, and local communities bearing the brunt.
“The war economy from illegal mining and illicit taxation is also worsening insecurity,” he said, while urging the AU and the UN to support the effort. He reminded participants of UN Security Council Resolution 2719 (Dec. 2023), which pledged to fund 75 per cent of African-led peace support operations.
