NIGERIA and other ECOWAS member states on Sunday
announced a decision to send their war plan against Mali Islamists to the
United Nations.
At the centre of the war plan is putting on
stand-by 3,300 soldiers to help recapture northern Mali.
The troops will mostly come from Nigeria, Niger,
and Burkina Faso, but other West African countries and two or three non-African
states may also contribute forces, Ivorien President Alassane Quattara
reportedly told journalists on Sunday after leaders of the ECOWAS countries met
in Abuja.
Ouattara, who is the current chairman of ECOWAS,
said there was no longer ambiguity concerning the force deployment as decisions
have been reached on the logistics.
He said the troops could be deployed as soon as
UN approved the plan which he said was drawn up by experts in Bamako, Mali’s
capital city.
Reuters reports quoted a Malian army
sources as saying that the plan covers a period of six months with a phase
meant to train the soldiers and establish bases in Mali’s South, and to be
followed by combat operations in the northern region of the country.
The UN Security Council had given the
African leaders 45 days from October 12 to draw up plan for military
intervention to save northern Mali from Islamists.
The leaders reached the decision after validating
the harmonised concept of operations for the Africa- led International
The ECOWAS leaders also considered
recommendations made by the Mediation and Security Council, which was made up
of Ministers of Foreign Affairs as well as their Defence counterparts.
President of the ECOWAS Commission, Kadre
Ouedraogo, read the communiqué by all the leaders who attended the meeting soon
after the meeting ended.
He said, “Authority reiterates that dialogue
remains the preferred option in the resolution of the political crisis in Mali.
“However, regarding the security situation,
recourse to force may be indispensable in order to dismantle terrorist and
transnational criminal networks that pose a threat to international peace and
security.
“Summit reiterates its instruction to the
Commission to maintain the stand-by force in a high state of readiness for
immediate deployment, and urges Member states to concretise their commitments
to provide military and logistic contributions to the ECOWAS military efforts.
“Authority decides to adopt the harmonised
concept of operations for the deployment of the African-led international force
in Mali and requests the Peace and Security Council of the African Union to
endorse the concept and ensure its transmission, together with the Strategic
Concept, to the United Nations Secretary General within the deadline stipulated
in Resolution 2071.
“It urges the UN Security Council to examine the
concept with a view to authorizing the deployment of the international military
force in Mali in conformity with chapter VII of the UN Chapter.”
The leaders reiterated an earlier decision to bar
the interim president, prime minister and other members of the Transitional
Government from participating in next Presidential elections in Mali and Guinea
Bissau.
President Goodluck Jonathan in his welcome
address said that the deployment must be done to avert costly consequences on
the sub-region in particular and the African continent in general.
He said, “Guinea Bissau and Mali need our help to
stabilise and recover lost grounds. The long suffering peoples of Guinea Bissau
and Mali will be looking up to us to end their nightmares and open the door of security
and prosperity to them. We must not fail them.
“On our part, Nigeria will continue to play her
role in close collaboration with other member states and indeed the AU and
other members of the international community, until peace and democracy are restored
in these countries.
“As leaders of our various countries, we cannot
turn a blind eye to potentially destabilising situations in our sub-region.
What has been happening in Guinea Bissau and Mali these past several months go
against our collective vision of a peaceful, stable and economically prosperous
region.”
Representative of the UN Secretary General, Mr.
Ban Ki-moon, at the Summit, Mr. Said Djinnit, said the UN was fully committed
to supporting ECOWAS and the AU towards achieving peace and security in Mali.
While urging that the fragile political
dispensation in Mali be addressed and transitional process strengthened,
Jonathan also asked for full exploration of all avenues for dialogue and
negotiation with Malian rebels to prevent the force deployment and its
implications.
He called on Malian authorities to urgently
set-up the negotiation committee proposed by President Traore on July 29, 2012
to engage in negotiation with the armed and rebel groups in the North of Mali.
He said, “As we move forward, it is important to
anticipate without delay some of the challenges ahead in setting up the force,
including in terms of force generation, further planning, budgeting and
resource mobilisation and finalisation of command and control arrangements to
ensure effectiveness of the proposed deployment.”
“The key aspects of the protection of human
rights and humanitarian access should also be kept in mind in the context of
the finalisation of the CONOPS.”
The Representative of the African Union to the
Summit, Mr. Pierre Buyoya, who is the High Representative of the AU for Mali
and the Sahel, said that AU was committed to fighting the menace in Mali since
the situation posed a danger to the continent and the international community.
While reacting to the development, National
Publicity Secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change called on the
Federal Government to tread with caution.
He said, “In the apartheid era, Nigeria had
Africa as the centre piece of its foreign policy. Quite rightly so. But times
have changed.
“The South Africa that we strove hard and long to
free from the shackles of apartheid rule has grown to be a regional power
economically, politically and militarily. South Africa’s brand of democracy has
inherent conferment of sovereignty on the people.
“In Nigeria, sovereignty lies in the hands of
those that control the security forces. Nigeria is still grappling with the
essence of nationhood. It is time to change our foreign policy thrust to
Nigeria-centred.
“Nigerian military is over-stretched because of
the festering self-inflicted wounds of the indiscretion of our political
leadership. Military operations, as strategic ad hoc reinforcement of the
police, are currently in more than 33 states.”
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