The African Union High Representative for Silencing the Gun, Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, has admonished states in the sub-region to invest heavily in robust approaches to effectively deal with violent extremism and terrorism in West Africa and the Sahel regions.
According to him, many of the measures or models employed by countries to ensure peace and stability are outdated and cannot adequately address the contemporary nature of the threats facing the sub-region.
Addressing the media after a regional peacebuilding conference organized by the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) under a Research and Action for Peace (REcAP) Network project in Accra, Dr. Chambas stressed the need for substantial funding to counter terrorism.
“The funding of African peace missions by the AU, ECOWAS, and other African representatives and mechanisms will be able to benefit from direct UN-accessed contributions to ensure reliable and dependable funding, making them more efficient.”
“We believe that when this funding is made available, it can enhance the role of African peace missions to take up some of these intractable challenges we face today in the Sahel.”
