Conflict prevention critical in West Africa, Sahel region, UN envoy says

The UN secretary-general's special representative, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, on Monday said that conflict prevention is critical in West Africa and the Sahel region as an estimated 4.5 million people are displaced and six million people are in need of emergency food assistance in the Sahel alone.

"It was indeed the desperation from the perceived lack of opportunities, justice, and hope that contributed to the creation of a conductive climate for emergence of militant movements," Chambas, who is also the head of the UN Office for West Africa and Sahel (UNOWAS)," said in his briefing to the UN Security Council on West Africa and the Sahel.

Highlighting the underlying challenges in the sub-region and beyond, he urged the international community to work collectively to help improve conflict prevention efforts at its initial stage.

Countries in West Africa and the Sahel must expand intelligence gathering capacities to counter militant threats, such as those posed by Boko Haram, the extremist militant group who launched terrorist attacks in such countries as Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon, he said.

Boko Haram continues to change tactics, having twice overrun the city of Bosso in Niger in June, he noted. Terrorists have also struck further afield in West Africa, notably Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on 15 January, and in Grand Bassam, Cote d'Ivoire on March 13.

Traffickers, criminals, and their collaborators are seeking to benefit from lawlessness and insecurity to expand their networks, he said.

Rising incidents of terrorism in the Sahel region pose a major security challenge, especially after the many deaths and injuries the region has witnessed in the last one year. The latest of such incidents occurred on the night of May 31 to June 1, 2016, when twin terrorist attacks hit northern Mali region of Gao.

From the Atlantic to the Red Sea, going through the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa, the region covers ten countries that include Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Eritrea and Somalia.

"Looking at the underlying challenges in the sub-region and beyond, we also need to think harder, how we can collectively improve international conflict prevention efforts before crises escalate beyond control," he said. "We owe it to the people of West Africa and the Sahel, who have shown such remarkable resilience to persisting multifaceted challenges."

Countries in the region are engaged in reviews of their foundational laws, he said. Commissions, put in place in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone, are working on recommendations to adapt their constitutions to their needs as modern nations.

Meanwhile, he emphasized the need to further strengthen regional forces mobilized under the Multinational Joint Task Force, in particular in the area of intelligence gathering, and the need to augment democratic governance as an essential task in conflict prevention efforts.

In addition, efforts toward meeting the basic needs of innocent civilians trapped in this tragedy must be stepped up, he said. "It is deeply troubling, that only 11 per cent of the UN appeal of $1.98 billion in 2016 has been received."

He said these West African and Sahel countries will hopefully emerge from these reform efforts more cohesive, better governed, and with more women taking part in decision- making. "This would in turn strengthen their resilience to withstand internal and external shocks, such as the recent Ebola outbreak," he said. Enditem