Unfortunately, international issues such as Ukraine, the Middle East, and others, allowed us to ignore other conflicts. This is disturbing!
On March 22, NAD (News Africa Germany) reported that the African Union (AU), ahead of the elections in Senegal, was likening democracy on the continent to a “ship in troubled waters.”
Damtien Tchintchibidja, Vice President of the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), said that her region was the first to introduce democracy in Africa. But that has changed, as it is now “known for coups and unconstitutional changes of government.” She blamed the “tearing up of the social contract” for this.
Currently, ECOWA’s goal is to achieve peace and security.
Six of the nine coups in Africa between 2020 and 2023 took place in West Africa. Old and new conflicts include violent extremism, organized crime, piracy, unrest over social inequality, land usage conflicts, and electoral violence. Many of these challenges cannot be solved through national measures alone. The solutions require the coordination of ECOWAS institutions, member states, and civil society to work together to prevent and manage conflict. All these bodies are now to be strengthened by means of various projects, including training offers, dialogue events, think tanks, the establishment of national reaction centers to complete the crisis early warning system, as well as election training.
Thanks to 2019 consultations between the ECOWAS Commission and young members of the 15 ECOWAS member states, the AU and ECOWAS, for the first time, had a concrete basis on how to involve young people in the process of achieving peace and security.
Such projects encourage long-term hope for peaceful coexistence!