Why a meeting of ECOWAS military chiefs in Accra is great

Once again, I believe the Almighty has given Ghana an opportunity to show leadership. This Saturday, 12^th August, the military chiefs of ECOWAS will once again meet, although this time they will meet in Ghana. I did not find this news mentioned on Ghanaian news outlets. It was in nearby Nigeria, specifically in their newspaper called The Guardian (Article title: Niger crisis: ECOWAS military chiefs to meet on Saturday) that I saw it being reported that the ECOWAS military chiefs will meet in this time in Accra, Ghana, and not in Abuja, Nigeria.

So then, why is this a great thing? We should note, and quite deliberately, that among the major ECOWAS countries not currently embroiled in a coup d’état, Ghana, is the ONLY major West African nation that has so far withheld hawkish participation in the media, in the form of military engagement with our neighbours Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali! I speak particularly in reference to our president, Nana Akuffo-Addo.

We know that Ghana and its leader have withheld hawkish participation in regard to the military option for a number of reasons. First, back on 8^th August, when Agence France Press (i.e., AFP) reported names for countries prepared to send ‘thousands’ of troops to Niger alongside Nigeria, they mentioned Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Benin. Ghana was conspicuously absent in this lineup! Of course, apart from Nigeria, we all know that Ghana is the next major English-speaking country in West Africa. That is a fact, so the very awesome lack of Ghana showing up in that list at the time it was given, was significant. Second, seeing Côte d’Ivoire (another major West African country besides Nigeria and Ghana) in this list was no accident. The Ivorian president, Alassane Ouattara, appears to be quite gung-ho to send his troops to die in Niger. This is so, as at the just ended meeting (10^th August) of ECOWAS heads of state, president Alassane Ouattara was quoted on Reuters as saying, “"We do not accept, we will not accept coups d'etat. These putschists must go. If they don't let Bazoum out to be able to exercise his mandate, I think we should move ahead and get them out.” Clearly, the Ivorian president appears to have little to no qualms in going to Mali to fight (and kill) his sisters and his brothers (the Dioula peoples of Côte d’Ivoire and Mali are the same Mande peoples), even as Burkina Faso was the nation that sheltered Alassane Ouattara, and from where he staged his violent 2011 comeback into power, under the aegis of French military power.

Third, it would also appear that the Nigerian president, Bola Tinubu, is “doubling down” on still having the military option open, even where Muslim and Christian leaders (including cardinals and bishops), members of his own senate especially opposition parties, and members of the international community are all very actively calling for restraint to further explore diplomacy. In fact, the only diplomatic door so far opened by the very commendable efforts of president Tinubu’s colleage, Lamido Sanusi Lamido, former Emir of Kano, current Khalifa of the Tijaniyya Sufi (spiritual) order of Nigeria, and who was ALSO the former governor of the central bank of Nigeria, was when this eminent fellow on his own initiative personally travelled to Niger to meet with general Abdourahmane Tiani, leader of the Nigerien junta. Prior to Lamido Sanusi’s Niger visit, general Tiani refused to meet anyone else except for his own men as well as allies from Mali and from Burkina Faso, so this door that opened was a huge deal indeed.

Fourth, contrary to positions expressed by stalwarts of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) party (leaders such as general secretary Asiedu Nketia) asserting to the effect that that Ghana’s president has agreed to send Ghanaian soldiers as part of the ECOWAS “standby force to die in Niger (so far, this assertion appears not to be true, judging from the AFP reportage of 8^th August stated above) and also taking into account comments from prominent NDC MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa cautioning that there appears have been no parliamentary discussion yet on the military issue, as I suppose has happened in Nigeria (the lack of discussion at parliament appears to be true, as far as I know, but as we see in Nigeria, the president has still decided to have the military option despite parliamentary admonishment), in my view the signs have been very clear, that Nana Akuffo Addo, unlike his colleagues president Alassane Ouattara, whose position I have cited in a quote above, and president Bola Tinubu, who said at the recent, second ECOWAS heads of state meeting at Abuja (10^th August), that (and I quote from Reuters), “No option is taken off the table”, saying that, even after Lamido Sanusi just managed to by himself open the door, where even the Americans and ECOWAS delegations failed, president Akuffo Addo has managed to keep a calm and cool head, witnessing and observing the happenings among his colleagues but not committing, because I believe unlike the others our president has decided NOT to join the ECOWAS “standby force” in the same ways as the leaders of Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Benin have done.

Why is that? It is quite simple, my fellow sisters and brothers. In my opinion, our president understands the risks involved in further upsetting the peace and stability of the West African region by endorsing offensive military adventurism in Niger. The situation we are faced with in Niger is much more dangerous than what we here in West Africa witnessed at the beginning of 2017 when Senegal sent troops into the Gambia as a measure to remove Yahya Jammeh from office after he lost the election. It is also of a lower priority than having each country protect itself and the sub-region from jihadists. President Akuffo-Addo understands that maintaining peace and security is a precondition to subsequently promoting national, regional and continental economic prosperity, through organs such as AfCFTA. It is precisely what he stated recently on 7^th August when he received the Medal of Merit in Leadership Award from the Africa Bar Association (an Award akin to the Mo Ibrahim Award for leadership, but much better, and more meaningful, in my opinion) held in South Africa. The Award acknowledged and celebrated our president for good governance, for achieving the rank of a true African Statesman, and for having forged a legacy worthy of emulation. At this event, our president stated his views in these words:

“[W]ith the relevant investment, we will be able to sustain economic growth, and create the job opportunities that the youth of our continent so desperately need. [That] will mean more opportunities for growth for small businesses and the potential to lift some 30 million out of extreme poverty. Additionally, a successful AfCFTA will mean that Africa’s industrial exports will be diversified… We in West Africa, are currently preoccupied with the need to free the Region from the terrorist insurgency that has engulfed Mali, Burkina Faso, parts of Niger and Nigeria and threatening the peace and stability of the coastal nations”

In other words, the message our president gave to the world, to NDC, to NPP, and to the various peoples of Ghana, is that as leader of our country, he has decided in the main to focus Ghana’s military efforts on securing our borders from terrorist incursions by jihadists, those whose activities are a real threat to the peace and stability of countries in the region, the very peace and stability that serves as a fundamental prerequisite for greater economic growth and prosperity of African peoples.

Best scenario, from where I stand, is to sequester our brothers and sisters there, to sort themselves out while focusing on promoting present and future chances for greater peace and stability in our region, as our Ghanaian president Nana Akuffo Addo so adeptly opined in his acceptance speech. Further escalation on the part of the remnant ECOWAS body will only lead to a long, drawn out conflict, which will then inevitably bring in the West (US-NATO, etc.), the East (Russia, China and their allies) and MUCH MORE of those unwanted third-party Islamist fundamentalist jihadist groups such as Boko Haram, AlQaida in the Magrab (AQIM), Ansar Dine, Jama'at al Nusra (the worst of them all), Ansaroul Islam, Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa, Masina Liberation Front (FLM), and all the other opportunist jihadists. They initially managed to break into our West African sub-region in greater numbers, taking up positions as well as building networks for arms to wreak terror as a result of the 'Arab Spring' and in particular resulting from the demise of Gaddafi and Libya, a war largely encouraged to its conclusion by the US and their NATO/Western allies.

What in my view ECOWAS leaders as a group could have done when they still had the chance, but have now entirely lost that opportunity, was to first show respect to those who have now unfortunately taken power in Niger. The first step could have been to seek the safe return of the deposed president, his family and his co-workers. There should have been a negotiation there, to for instance repatriate him to Nigeria. Next could have been a side-by-side working plan toward progressing from the coup d’état state to some form of transition or joint government, or whatever, that may even have included now ex-president Bazoum, who is rather eating dry rice at the present time, and whose life is now being held at ransom. The junta has just this past day threatened to kill Bazoum, should ECOWAS military forces invade Niger, as reported in Francophone news outlets. Killing Bazoum before ECOWAS military forces arrive to rescue him is a “zero sum game”, since the effort at trying to reinstate the deposed president will then amount to nil. Instead, ECOWAS (and in particular, president Tinubu’s leadership) have chosen to assume (in the main) the ‘harder line’, of threats of military invasion, causing the junta and their allies first to escalate into a new unified ‘super state’ within West Africa (something reminiscent of Russia-China, and which conglomerations have also not happened since the Cold War), and next for the junta in Niger to “triple down”, eliminating further possibilities for easier negotiations, and simultaneously advancing their government by assigning new posts. So, where at the beginning it was quite a difficult situation, it is now at a stage where it is a ten to fifteen times more difficult one. And then ECOWAS sends the military “standby force” in (which they surely will, in the end). Guess what. Odds are, the situation then will become intractable at the very least.

So, with ECOWAS military chiefs of staff changing strategy to instead come to Accra rather than Abuja, we HOPE this move from Nigeria to Ghana is not an approach to encourage (with “peer pressure”) our Ghanaian military corps, seemingly neutral in the matter, following the wisdom of our president (and perhaps of some at his cabinet such as the Minister of Defence), to rather join this military “standby force” led by Nigeria. There is nothing in it for Ghana (and a lot in it for Nigeria, business-wise), and for the party in government, especially at a time when elections are just around the corner for us here in Ghana, it is going to be a disastrous move for NPP. On the contrary, as our president so adeptly opined in his acceptance speech, Ghana has everything to gain by instead focusing on maintaining and on upholding peace and stability, first within our own country, and second within the region. We do this by strengthening our borders against incursions from jihadists, in a purely defensive capacity. It is what the late former Ghanaian president John Evans Atta Mills once termed “di wo fie asɛm”, in regard to Côte d’Ivoire’s March 2011 political instability and subsequent takeover. We also do this by simultaneously supporting diplomatic overtures that support and promote peace and stability in the West African sub-region and elsewhere in Africa.

Rather, we also hope that the military chiefs are coming to Ghana for inspiration. Ghana has a long track record of setting an example to emulate, in fact throughout all of Africa. This is why it is great that the ECOWAS military chiefs of staff are coming to Accra this weekend. We hope you find some inspiration to salvage the situation while you still can. It is in fact still salvageable. We hope you do not put undue pressure on Ghana’s military brass if they have already decided to, or have the good mind to stay out of a potential disaster that will surely result from a joint ECOWAS military adventure in Niger.