The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said over 3,500 terrorist attacks have been recorded in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger Republic in 2023, which resulted in nearly 7,000 deaths.
The Commissioner of Political Affairs, Peace and Security, ECOWAS Commission, Amb. Abdel-Fatau Musa, disclosed this at Friday’s weekly press briefing in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
Fatau highlighted that Burkina Faso experienced nearly 2,000 attacks, Mali over 1,044, and Niger Republic 500.
He emphasized the vulnerability of the entire West African region, especially the Sahel countries, where over 3,500 terrorist attacks were recorded in 2023 alone.
“The whole geographical area of West Africa is rich in human and natural resources. However, our geographic area is an area of immense vulnerability. 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 the 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.”
The commissioner further said the regional bloc was establishing a terrorism force to address the challenge, noting that the region will soon work out 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.
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