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West African leaders to set up their own peacekeeping force

WEST AFRICAN leaders have agreed to set up a joint regional force to intervene against jihadist insurgencies or military seizures of power.

Speaking at a summit in Nigeria on Sunday, Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) president Omar Alieu Touray said that leaders had decided to “take care of our own security in the region.”

“The leaders are determined to establish a regional force that will intervene in the event of need, whether this is in the area of security, terrorism [or to] … restore constitutional order in member countries, “a communique from the leaders said.

Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso have all been hit by military coups in the last two years.

Several countries in the region are also suffering from the spread of jihadism, including Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger and southwards to the Gulf of Guinea.

Mr Touray said that decision to create a joint force would “restructure our security architecture.”

The details of the initiative, including funding, will be considered by the region’s defence chiefs in the course of next year, he added.

The West African leaders also called on Mali’s ruling junta to release 46 military personnel from Ivory Coast who have been held since July.

Mr Touray said: “We ask the Malian authorities to release the Ivorian soldiers by January 1 2023 at the latest.”

He warned that the West African bloc reserved the right to impose sanctions if they were not released by the deadline.

Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe, who has been mediating between Mali and Ivory Coast on the issue, is set to travel to Mali to seek the soldiers’ release.

They were arrested on July 10 on their arrival at the airport in Mali’s capital Bamako.

Ivory Coast says that the troops were sent to provide backup for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali, known as Minusma, and are being unfairly detained.

Mali claims that the soldiers are mercenaries and has placed them in custody on charges of attempting to harm state security.

No progress was made on securing their release, despite a high-level delegation being sent to Mali in September.

Ecowas, set up in May 1975, includes Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Togo.

The West African regional bloc aims to promote co-operation and integration with the aim of establishing an economic union.

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