UN says regional coordination needs to be reconfigured to avoid more coups in Africa

The head of the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) said this Friday that “a reconfigured regional coordination mechanism is needed to avoid further coups” and combat widespread instability.

The head of UNOWAS, Leonardo Santos Simão, presented the latest report to the United Nations Security Council (UN) for the period from June 30 to December 31, 2023.

“Although significant progress has been made in consolidating democracy, the security situation and governance challenges remain a major concern,” Santos Simão said.

One example, Santos Simão said, was the elections in Liberia, which “demonstrated the ability of these institutions to exercise credible oversight and produce a government with constitutional legitimacy.”

“There is also palpable enthusiasm in Senegal about choosing the country’s next leader in the upcoming presidential elections on February 25. Ghana also demonstrated its commitment to democracy by engaging the two major parties in a transparent general election process. December 2024,” he said.

Regional director of the Institute for Security Studies’ office in West Africa, the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin, Laurie-Anne Theroux-Benoni, warned at the meeting of the “rapid spread of terrorism and a series of coups d’états” that pose challenges for the region.

The official also stressed that the withdrawal of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission for Mali (MINUSMA) and the dissolution of the G5 Sahel “are conditions for creating a regional security vacuum.”

“There is no miracle solution in the short term,” he said, stressing the need to strengthen national and regional coordination and implement a preventive approach to avoid creating the conditions for a subsequent coup.

According to Theroux-Benoni, “the goal is not to encourage long-standing military transitions, but to return to constitutional order.”

At the meeting that followed, delegates present at the Security Council stated that it was critical that countries in political transition adhere to their electoral calendars and guarantee democratic consolidation, good governance, the rule of law, respect for human rights, gender equality and sustainable development. development.

Sierra Leone’s Michael Imran Kanu, who also spoke on behalf of Algeria, Guyana and Mozambique, highlighted the growing disengagement from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), lamenting “growing political tensions caused by the change of government from democratic to unconstitutional in some countries region.”

“There is a need for continued engagement between the UN, the African Union and ECOWAS to ensure support for strengthening governance and the rule of law in these countries,” the spokesman concluded.