Defence Chiefs Canvass Expansion Of Maritime Security Committee

The ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff (CCDS) has recommended an expansion of the membership of its sub-committee on maritime security from five to ten members.

The recommendation is contained in a communiqué issued by the CCDS at the end of its two-days meeting in Abuja.

The communiqué said that the recommendation was part of the committee’s efforts to consolidate regional response to security threats, especially in the wake of escalating piracy, drug and human trafficking and other transnational crime in West Africa.

It said that the Republic of Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Sierra-Leone and Togo would join Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria in the sub-committee that would make proposals to the CCDS within two months on issues relating to regional security.

“The enlarged committee will be assisted by three maritime legal experts,’’ it said.

The communiqué said that the CCDS also called on member states that pledged to contribute police personnel to reinforce Liberia‘s national police for the forthcoming presidential and legislative elections to put the units on standby for possible deployment.

“Four of the member states, whose defence chiefs attended a one-day extraordinary meeting of the Joint Committees of the Chiefs of Defence Staff and Security Services in Monrovia on Sept. 13 pledged to contribute at least 540 police and 280 gendarmes to the support force,” it added.

It listed the countries as Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria.

“The defence chiefs called for the continuation of joint security patrols along the common borders of Cote d’Ivoire and Liberia and the retraining of former Ivorian rebels now being re-integrated into the country’s armed forces.

“In addition, the defence chiefs called on ECOWAS Commission to pursue efforts toward lifting the UN arms embargo on Cote d’Ivoire, “ the communiqué added.

It said that the defence chiefs also agreed to attend an ESF Main Brigade Validation Command Post Exercise code-named “ JIGUI 3’’ in Accra, Ghana, on November 25

In his closing remark, Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin, said that the conduct of free, fair and transparent elections in Liberia would be a litmus test of the CCDS collective resolve to institutionalise democracy in the sub-region.