International Diplomatic Consultant Al Wahab Farouk has advised West Africa’s main regional bloc, ECOWAS, to target the root causes of coups in West Africa and find a lasting solution to these crises.
He believes that while the regional heads of state have been proactive in these situations especially with the recent coup involving Guinea, the best they can do for the bloc is to tackle the genesis of the issue.
He made this known during an interview with Happy FM’s Don Prah on the ‘Epa Hoa Daben’ show.
“ECOWAS must look at the root cause and the genesis of the coups that are happening on the continent of West Africa; especially the French league nations on the West African belt. Identifying the root cause then, we can talk about lasting peace, sustainable democracy, and enhancement of the democratic credentials in all the countries across board”.
He added that in these situations, ECOWAS seems to be meting out “selective justice” as some leaders who have portrayed bad leadership leading to coup are also called upon to deliberate on solutions for coups in other neighbouring countries.
“At this point what ECOWAS is doing is selective justice against some small boys. But when the old folks sit together, the rules don’t affect them. We can make mention of 83-year-old Alpha Conde, 79-year-old Alhassan Ouattara and the list goes on and on. Things must change”, he said.
On 5th September, 2021, soldiers in Guinea led by Col. Mamady Doumbouya overthrew 83-year-old President Alpha Conde. Announcing the dissolution of the government, the leader of the coup on national TV said the army had no choice but to seize power because of rampant corruption, abuse and disregard of human rights as well as economic mismanagement all under the rulership of Alpha Conde.
The recent action led to an emergency summit of ECOWAS in Accra to deliberate on the way forward against the military government in Guinea and also to discuss the slow progress towards constitutional rule in Mali following a coup in the country last year.
On Thursday, 16th September, 2021, the West African leaders imposed sanctions on Guinea’s Coup leaders and called for elections in 6 months in a demand for a quick return to civilian rule after troops ousted President Alpha Conde.
