Murtala Mohamed Kamara, AfricaNews reporter in Freetown, Sierra Leone
The United Nations Special Representative to the West African region Said Djinnit has warned that if the issues affecting the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are not addressed on time, the effort made by the UN could be reversed.
Djinnit while briefing the UN Security Council earlier said that most of the problems that led to the destabilization of some parts of the region are still visible. He enumerated corruption, food crisis and the high rate of unemployment especially among the youth who made a large percentage of the population as some of the issues.
Djinnit said: “Many of the root causes of conflict in a number of West African countries have yet to be addressed in an effective and durable manner.” He told the 15-member body: “It is expected that food insecurity will remain a special challenge to the region over the next few years.”
The UN representative also said that the recent spate of drug trafficking in the region is a cause for concern. “Taking advantage of porous borders and weak state and security institutions, criminal networks are increasing using West Africa as a transit route for narcotics bound for Europe from Latin America,” he added.
He said people are "infiltrating state institutions, fuelling corruption and destabilizing the political and social fabric of nations."
Djinnit said despite progress made in consolidating democratic governance, military coups in Mauritania and Guinea have served as set backs. “Although these takeovers were bloodless, not addressing the resurgence of coups decisively could have a domino effect across West Africa.”
The ECOWAS region has witnessed major problems in the last decade. In Liberia alone over 50, 000 people were killed in their 14 years brutal conflict. The Liberian war later spilled to Sierra Leone and then Guinea but with the help of the timely intervention of the late Guinean President Lansana Conte the rebels were kept at bay. The worst atrocities in the history of conflict were committed in this region including amputation, plucking of the human eyes and sexual slavery.
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