Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) Antonio Guterres has challenged countries in the Central and West Africa sub regions, devastated by lingering and escalating terrorist activities to find the root causes with a view to tackling them from the root.
The UN scribe, represented by the Head of the UN office for West Africa, Mr. Mohammed Ibn Changes, threw the challenge at the opening of the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) and Economic Community of Central African (ECCAS) Summit today, Monday, in Lome, federal capital of Togo.
The UN Secretary General regretted the escalation security challenges, especially Terrorism, in the two African sub regions, made up of 26 countries.
He advised the leaders of these countries to critically examine the underlying factors responsible for the lingering terrorism, armed banditaries and other security challenges.
According to him, one of such underlying factors is aggregated widespread poverty, caused mainly by receding Lake Chad basing which he advised the regions to put heads together to urgently address.
The EOWAS chairman, who doubles as President of the host country, Togo, Mr. Faure Essozimne Gnassingbe said that the relevance of the Heads of governments in the two regional communities coming together to find common solutions to the security challenges cannot be overemphasized.
He stressed the need for the ECOWAS/ECCAS not to allow their borders to be used by the terrorists and others that are threats to the security, peace, stability, terrorism and violent extremism to thrive.
“We should not allowed our borders to be impediments to the efforts of our armed forces in their attempts to protect and defend the territorial integrity of the individual member nation.”
