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Arab News
a day ago
- Politics
- Arab News
West African leaders admit security woes mounting in region
ABUJA: Leaders from the west African bloc ECOWAS on Sunday admitted during talks in the Nigerian capital that the region was in trouble, facing mounting unrest and political instability. 'Our region is at the crossroads,' said Sierra Leone's Julius Maada Bio as he took over the rotating chairmanship of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) from Nigeria's Bola Tinubu. West Africa is 'facing serious challenges, some long-standing, others new and evolving,' he said. They included 'insecurity in the Sahel and coastal states, terrorism, political instability, illicit arms flow and transnational organized crimes.' It was time to 'overhaul our collective security architecture' including intelligence-sharing and rapid response, he added. 'The democratic space is under strain in parts of our region — the constitutional order has been disrupted.' Coups and attempted putsches have rocked nearly half of the original ECOWAS member states in the last decade, straining relations between neighbors. Three junta-led countries — Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger — quit the bloc earlier this year, setting up their own alliances. Jihadists exploiting fraying ties between regional countries are gaining ground in the Sahel and Lake Chad region. They have recently intensified offensives in the Sahel region, staging bloody raids in Mali, incursions into major cities in Burkina Faso and inflicting heavy army losses in Niger. Summit host Nigeria has also witnessed a spike in attacks in recent weeks, targeting both villagers and military bases. In his speech, outgoing ECOWAS chair Tinubu spoke of the 'stark and consistent challenges that continue to impede our aspirations... violent extremism and other cross-border crimes that have continued to widen' and intensify. The three Sahel states' military juntas pledged during the coups that brought them to power to make security a priority. But, like their predecessors, they are struggling to contain the advance of jihadists, who are threatening neighboring countries on the west African coast more than ever. Tinubu said that under his leadership ECOWAS 'deployed all diplomatic means' to engage the three countries and expressed confidence 'that before too long, they may return' to the bloc. Bringing the three countries back into the ECOWAS fold will be the 'biggest test' of the chairmanship of Maada Bio, a former soldier who briefly led a military junta in his own country more than two decades ago, said Ikemesit Effiong, analyst with SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based African geopolitical risk consulting firm. The three countries have so far formed a confederation called the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). Earlier this year they announced the creation of a joint 5,000-strong force for joint military operations. ECOWAS leaders in August 2023 mustered plans to create a military 'standby force' aimed at fighting against terrorism and transnational crimes. At the time it was announced, it was aimed at the junta leaders in Niger who had toppled the sitting president. Tinubu said ECOWAS 'must act decisively to operationalize the standby force in the fight against terrorism to serve as an instrument for peace and stability for our region.' 'I am a little bit worried about the slow pace of its activation, which is taking longer than desired,' said Tinubu. ECOWAS did not give a timeline of when it would become operational. But the organization has a long history of military interventions having deployed since the 1990s in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mali, Ivory Coast, the Gambia and Guinea-Bissau.
The Independent
15-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
NATO weighs a US demand to massively hike defense spending as some struggle to meet the current goal
NATO foreign ministers on Thursday debated an American demand to massively ramp up defense investment to 5% of gross domestic product over the next 7 years, as the U.S. focuses on security challenges outside of Europe. At talks in Antalya, Turkey, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that more investment and military equipment are needed to deal with the threat posed by Russia and terrorism, but also by China which has become the focus of U.S. concern. 'When it comes to the core defense spending, we need to do much, much more,' Rutte told reporters. He underlined that once the war in Ukraine is over, Russia could reconstitute its armed forces within 3-5 years. Secretary of State Marco Rubio underlined that 'the alliance is only as strong as its weakest link.' He insisted that the U.S. investment demand is about 'spending money on the capabilities that are needed for the threats of the 21st century.' The debate on defense spending is heating up ahead of a summit of U.S. President Donald Trump and his NATO counterparts in the Netherlands on June 24-25. It's a high-level gathering that will set the course for future European security, including that of Ukraine. In 2023, as Russia's full-scale war on Ukraine entered its second year, NATO leaders agreed to spend at least 2% of GDP on national defense budgets. So far, 22 of the 32 member countries have done so. The new spending plan under consideration is for all allies to aim for 3.5% of GDP on their defense budgets by 2032, plus an extra 1.5% on potentially defense-related things like infrastructure — roads, bridges, air- and sea ports. While the two figures add up to 5%, factoring in infrastructure and cybersecurity would change the basis on which NATO traditionally calculates defense spending. The seven-year time frame is also short by the alliance's usual standards. Rutte refused to confirm the numbers under consideration, but he acknowledged that it's important to include infrastructure in the equation, 'for example to make sure that bridges, yes, are there for you and me to drive our cars but also if necessary to make sure that the bridge will hold a tank. So all these expenditures have to be taken into account.' It's difficult to see how many members would reach a new 3.5% goal. Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Italy, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain are not even spending 2% yet, although Spain does expect to reach that goal in 2025, a year past the deadline. The U.S. demand would require investment at an unprecedented scale, but Trump has cast doubt over whether the U.S. would defend allies that spend too little, and this remains an incentive to do more, even as European allies realize that they must match the threat posed by Russia. 'There is a lot at stake for us,' Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys said. He urged his NATO partners to meet the investment goals faster than the 2032 target "because we see the tempo and the speed, how Russia generates its forces now as we speak.' British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said his country should reach 2.5% by 2027, and then 3% by the next U.K. elections planned for 2029. 'It's hugely important that we recommit to Europe's defense and that we step up alongside our U.S. partners in this challenging geopolitical moment where there are so many precious across the world, and particularly in the Indo-Pacific,' he said. As an organization, NATO plays no direct security role in Asia, and it remains unclear what demands the Trump administration might make of the allies as it turns its attention to China. The last NATO security operation outside the Euro-Atlantic area, its 18-year stay in Afghanistan, ended in chaos. ___ Cook reported from Brussels, and Fraser from Ankara, Turkey.
