The Economic Community of West African States and Egypt are exploring ways to collaborate on peace and security initiatives to promote stability in West Africa.
During a recent meeting, Egyptian Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, H.E. Mohamed Fouad, and ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Dr. Abdel-Fatau Musa, discussed potential areas of cooperation.
Dr. Musa emphasized the need for collaboration in counter-terrorism efforts, particularly in operationalizing the ECOWAS Counter-Terrorism Force.
He also mentioned plans for a regional summit to address the future of integration and prevent proxy conflicts amidst rising geopolitical tensions.
The Commissioner stressed that ECOWAS values regional unity and opposes any withdrawals from the community, as they contradict the principles of integration and pan-Africanism.
By working together, ECOWAS and Egypt aim to enhance peace and security in West Africa.
He hinted that ECOWAS has a lot to learn from Egypt on regional peace consolidation, the Commissioner disclosed that ECOWAS was opposed to the idea of withdrawal of Member States from the Community because such actions were against the principle of integration and pan Africanism, according to a statement.
Particularly, the Commissioner noted that the ECOWAS Commission was looking forward to seeing how Egypt can “support the impact of the dynamics of the current happenings in Libya in such a way as can guarantee the safety of the Sahel, having now been established that the Sahel is defining our peace and security environment today”
Responding, Ambassador Fouad acknowledged ECOWAS as the most successful regional economic community on the continent and noted that even though Egypt is not in West Africa, it is mindful of the proximity of the border areas of the region and the Maghreb.
Egypt, he stressed, is very much disposed to having a holistic approach to tackling issues of terrorism, cross border crimes, insecurity and insurgencies.
He said Egypt’s cooperation with ECOWAS stems from mutual understanding and shared needs for capacity building and information exchange while both sides expressed optimism that the experiences of Egypt would be very valuable to the regional peacekeeping, mediation and integration efforts of ECOWAS.
