IS ECOWAS STANDBY FORCE NECESSARY?
By: Stephen O Aderinto
Following several cases of coup d’etats and other instability issues in West Africa, the most prominent being the ones in Burkina Faso, Guinea-Conakry, Mali and last year’s coup attempt in Guinea Bissau, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) initiated a standby force earlier this year to stop military coups and terrorism in the region. Going back in the timeline, on December 4, 2022, ECOWAS deployed a stabilisation force to Guinea Bissau following the body’s annual summit held in Abuja, Nigeria. This was in response to a coup attempt in the country in February 2022. According to reports, gunmen armed with machine guns and assault rifles ambushed Umaro Sissoco Embalo, the President of Guinea Bissau in the presidential palace. A total of six people (four assailants and two guards) were killed in a gunfire exchange that lasted five hours. News gathered indicates that the attackers were linked to the country’s burgeoning drug industry. The standby force’s roles also include monitoring happenings in Mali, Burkina Faso and Nigeria.
ECOWAS logo. Photo credit: ECOWAS
A statement issued by ECOWAS in response to the incident offered reassurance and hope: “The Conference reaffirms its firm determination to protect democracy and freedom in the region and reiterates its commitment to the principle of zero tolerance for the accession to power by unconstitutional means, [in line with ECOWAS provisions on good governance]”.
The World Bank has identified Guinea Bissau as one of the world’s most politically unstable countries with a high propensity for coups. The first democratically elected President was José Mário Vaz who, quite unusually for the country, completed a full term. Guinea Bissau has undergone 10 coups or attempted coups since its independence from Portugal in 1974 and simultaneously gained notoriety status as a major hub for cocaine transportation from Latin America to Europe. This has earned it the label of “narco-state” in Africa.
ECOWAS troops in Guinea Bissau. Photo credit: Voice of Nigeria
Noteworthy is that President Embaló’s administration commenced in March 2020, marking the start of a new era of political stability in the midst of several tumultuous events in the country’s judiciary. Guinea Bissau’s prolonged political instability needs addressing and transformation without further delay.
Elsewhere, the unstable political climate in Mali is a significant cause for concern in the western bloc. Mali’s eagerly anticipated elections originally scheduled for February 2022, have been delayed until 2024 due to two previous coups, in the wake of the ousting of elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Kéïta in August 2020. Goïta, who led the coup, was responsible for this development. Coup crises in Mali have their roots in the events of 2012, when northern separatists and Islamist armed groups forced government forces out of northern Mali, and the military overthrew the government. The political turmoil has led to the loss of innocent lives as well as the displacement of thousands of Malians, resulting in a surge of poverty across the nation. Mali’s prospects for stability were revitalised by the 2013 and 2018 elections, as well as the 2015 peace agreement commonly referred to as the “Algiers Accord,” signed between the government and the two northern separatist movements. After serving as Vice-President in a civilian-led administration, Ibrahim Boubacar Goïta, led a second coup in May 2021 and assumed power in Mali.
Coup leader and current president of Mali, Assimi Goita.
In September 2020, a meeting was held by various entities, including opposition groups, civil societies, West African leaders and the interim government to discuss the matter. The meeting culminated in the formation of an 18-month timeline for transition to civilian rule. According to the transitional administration, the legislative and presidential elections were meant to be held on 27th February 2022, but Goïta unfortunately extended his rule beyond this timeline, thus lapsing on his statement of the assurance of “the organisation of credible, fair and transparent elections that are held as scheduled.” Fingers are tightly crossed as to whether the elections will be held in February 2024 or not, owing to the February 2022 initial schedule not being met. Goïta, known to cling on to power, initially proposed 2026 to ECOWAS, before it was renegotiated to 2025 and further forward to 2024. ECOWAS has since then imposed economic and financial sanctions on Mali, including closing air and land borders with the country. In March 2023, a referendum was held regarding a revised constitution. The legislative elections are currently planned for October/November 2023, followed by the presidential election in February 2024. This has led to the lifting of the impositions on Mali by ECOWAS.
ECOWAS LEADERS IN GHANA. Photo credit: All Africa
In recent years West Africa has witnessed several coups or attempted coups not only in Guinea Bissau or Mali, but also in other countries such as Burkina Faso, Guinea and Niger. In fact, the most recent coup happened in Burkina Faso. And according to reports, 2022 was the deadliest year for the country. On January 24, 2022, the military staged a coup and seized power from Kaboré, marking the most recent instance of such an event. Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, the mastermind behind the coup, was inaugurated as the leader of the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration (MPSR), which took over the government. This event ensued after the much-lingered military blame of Kaboré’s failure to halt an insurgency by jihadist groups in northern Burkina Faso. On 30 September 2022, Captain Ibrahim Traoré and other officers staged a coup and forcibly ousted Damiba from power, marking the second most recent coup. Afterwards, Traoré was appointed by the MPSR as both the President and the leader of the armed forces. It appears that every government uses the failure of previous administrations to address the ongoing issue of Islamist insurgency in the country as a justification for their coup actions. Both the African Union and ECOWAS have strongly denounced the series of coup attempts in their mediation efforts, asserting that the unconstitutional seizure of power by the Damiba-led authorities is unacceptable. It was equally required that the agreed electoral timetable for the restoration of constitutional order by July 1st, 2024, be strictly adhered to. It is a matter of concern whether Burkina Faso will experience another coup in the future.
Coup leader and current President of Guinea
The ECOWAS standby force also extends beyond military coups in the region, the force will also tackle terrorism in the region such as the Boko Haram insurgency in north-eastern Nigeria, which has long ravaged the oil-rich nation. The abduction of 276 female students from the town of Chibok by Boko Haram in April 2014 gained global attention, leading to increased policy focus on the crisis. Boko Haram’s armed attacks have also affected Nigeria’s neighbouring countries, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. Boko Haram’s activities in Nigeria have led to mass killing of people, destruction of properties, and displacement of people. These developments have necessitated the need for ECOWAS’s counterterrorism measures in the nation and region at large.
Although the creation of a standby force has been welcomed by citizens of the region, ECOWAS leaders have also been accused of turning a blind eye to some leaders in the region that have violated constitutional term limits in their countries by organising a so-called referendum against the wishes of the people. The most prominent being Alhassan Outtara of Ivory Coast and Guinea’s former President Alpha Conde who was ousted in a military coup led by Col. Mamadi Doumbouya in 2021.
Former president of Guinea, Alpha Conde after being ousted by the military in 2021.
Both men organised a referendum in their countries in 2020 to change their country’s constitution which prior to the changes only allows two terms to pave the way to stand for a third term. The changes resulted in violence in both countries and in Guinea dozens of people were killed. After the change of constitution in Ivory Coast and Guinea both Alhassan Outtara and Alpha Conde were re-elected for a third term, despite several protests and allegations of election rigging in both countries. Despite these two presidents changing their country’s constitution in order to stay in power, ECOWAS leaders were silent about the situation. To conclude, if ECOWAS is really determined to implement its pledges on good governance, economic stability in the region and for the standby force to be successful, leaders in the region will have to respect constitutional time limits, stop the killings or arrests of unarmed protesters for political reasons and all member states should pay their financial commitments to the bloc on time.
