By FORTUNE ABANG

Heads of State and Government of Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Representatives of Burkina Faso, Mali. Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo have called for frameworks on tackling common sub-regional challenges

They disclosed this in a communique’ issued against the backdrop of the high-level consultative conference on Regional Cooperation and Security held in Accra, Ghana from Thursday to Friday.

The meeting was convened by the Heads of State and Government of the Republic of Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone as well as the representatives of Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo.

The communique was made available by the Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Amb. Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, as issued by Dr Magnus Eze, Special Assistant on Communication and New Media, Office of the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.

According to the minister, who led the country’s delegation, the conference was convened under the chairmanship of Ghana President John Mahama, President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leaon and Liberia President Joseph Boakai, respectively.

She explained that the leaders have recognised that the Western Africa Region and its immediate neighbours were connected through geography, trade routes, shared ecosystems, and communities whose livelihoods depended mainly on cross-border movements.

They said, “Our region is currently the global epicenter of terrorism and violent extremism.

“On a daily basis, at least eight terror attacks are recorded, which claims averagely 44 lives.

“More than half of all global terrorism-related deaths are recorded in our region.

*We are witnessing an alarming uptick in extremist attacks for which inaction is not an option.

“Rather than relying on episodic diplomacy or limited operational coordination, the strategic goal is to establish a structured and permanent framework for cooperation.”

According to them, this framework is designed to develop shared programmes, standards, and infrastructure priorities while managing common risks.

The leaders added, “By fostering engagements with states central to the counterterrorism effort, the initiative recognises that fragmentation incurs heavy economic, social, and security costs that diminish collective problem-solving capacity.”

They suggested that sustainable security in Western Africa called for a shift toward a human security approach, underpinned by regional solidarity, respect for sovereignty, and a people-centred, gender-responsive approach to peacebuilding.

On security and counter-terrorism, they agreed to among other things strengthen regular meetings of states in the region, to review peace and security commitments.

“Also strengthen intelligence and information sharing, reinforce harmonization of legal frameworks to enhance cross-border prosecution of terrorism-related offenses, while safeguarding human rights and strengthen implementation of de-radicalisation programmes,” they added.

On border security and counterterrorism, they committed to consider adopting a hot-pursuit by bilateral, mini-lateral or multilateral agreement to support fights against transnational crimes.

“In the same vein, design a foundational Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Protocols on Cooperation and Security within six months after the high-level conference, as basis for further agreements,” they added.

The high-level conference featured deliberations of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security and Intelligence Chiefs of the States, participation by partners from the AU Commission, United Nations Development Programme and contributions from civil society organisations.

Highlights of the conference was reaffirmation to commitment on strengthening regional cooperation evolving peace, security and governance challenges, in order to rebuild regional stability. (NAN)