When Complacency Becomes The Enemy of Stability……In Politics.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has through its multilateral armed force ECOMOG, a history of successful military interventions to “restore constitutional order within the region. To sports fans ECOMOG is VAR; a formal arrangement for separate armies to work together. Just like the USA in NATO, Nigeria does the heavy lifting with larger numbers of personnel and resources. ECOMOG’’s successes include the interventions in Liberia (1990), Sierra Leone (1997), Guinea Bissau (1999), Cote D’Ivoire (2002) and Liberia again (2003), Mali (2013), and Gambia (2017) etc. Despite the collateral damages, this military body has not only helped to restore constitutional order but also prevented serious blood bath across the region. Many see it as a force for good.
Following the heavily disputed and controversial June 2023 elections which led to an impasse between the two main political parties in Sierra Leone, the hiatus was filled with protests, boycotts, riots, and general breakdown of law and order. After several false dawns and false starts, a Tripartite Committee (T.C) was set up to create a balance sheet of electoral practices and forge a way forward. The cat was thrown among the pigeons when an attempted coup was aborted in November last year. Unfortunately, the Tripartite Committee attracted a new wave falsehoods as TRUTH became the first casualty.
Despite strenuous efforts by one of the midwives of the Tripartite Committee, the American Ambassador Mr. Bryan David Hunt to set the records straight, many opposition-leaning media outlets engaged in blatant attempts to insult the intelligence of their supporters. These rumour merchants deliberately told anyone and everyone who cared to listen that the T.C was set up to conduct a re-run of the elections. When that failed, they talked about electoral justice; whatever that is. The TC was recently concluded with recommendations for implementation. Whether it is a coincidence of a bigger picture or as part of the recommendations, ECOWAS has reportedly invested $10 million in Lungi Military Base for an ECOMOG Stabilisation Force Deployment (ESFD).
Now the same media rags tell us that the ECOMOG force’s mandate in Sierra Leone is to carry out “electoral justice”, a political wet dream that insinuates the removal of President Maada Bio from power. Should the right to free speech be amended with the right to remain stupid? Is this how to compensate for an electoral loss by taking the supporters for a ride on a wild goose chase? Please have some respect for the APC supporters. Some may be grassroots but not dumb supporters. This is not how you lick your wounds from reality. First, the election will be postponed. Next, there will be a re-run. Now, it’s “electoral justice” and ECOMOG is coming to remove Maada Bio. Now the Cocorioko newspaper and theorganiser.net, both scions of the same political party are at each other’s throat for deceiving the flock.
So, why is ECOMOG (ESDF) coming to Sierra Leone?
ECOMOG is synonymous with crisis intervention. Does establishing a “stabilisation force” as the name implies, mean that Sierra Leone is not stable? Irrespective of your political persuasion, why is ECOMOG coming to Sierra Leone during a “relative peace time”? According to Brigadier General Bangura, “the decision to establish an ECOWAS military base in Sierra Leone was initially conceived during late President Joseph Saidu Momoh’s regime between 1989 and 1990”. Brigadier Bangura said that the initiative has been revived due to the persistent governance conflicts, coups, unconstitutional challenges in West Africa and other African countries. Several countries like Mali (2020, 2021) Guinea (2021), Chad (2021) Burkina Faso (2022) Niger (2023) have come under military rule in the last 3 years. Brigadier Bangura confirmed that with the consent of President Julius Maada Bio, ECOWAS has decided to establish a new logistics base at Lungi, along with similar bases in Ghana, Togo, and Ivory Coast. Well at least, the old Lungi Airport will not go to waste.
At face value, it looks like rather than its traditional reactive response to regional crises, ECOMOG is taking a proactive and preventive stance. Is that what they call, “pre-emptive strike?” ECOWAS is used to shutting the barn door when the horse had already bolted. However, if the idea to establish an ECOWAS military base was conceived in 1989-1990, when Sierra Leone was in the grip of self-annihilation, why did it need a 35 year gestation period to get to the delivery suite? Brigadier Bangura said that the initiative has been revived due to the persistent governance conflicts, coups, unconstitutional challenges in West Africa and other African countries. So, who are the midwives behind this ante-natal arrangements? But there have been coups throughout this period from 1989 to last week. Why the sudden change in tact? Look no further than the Sahel Region, with Mali (2020, 2021) Guinea (2021), Chad (2021) Burkina Faso (2022) Niger (2023) coming under military rule in West Africa in the last 3 years.
ECOWAS responded with sanctions and the threat of military intervention in the region. French President Emmanuel Macron said at the time, that he would not “tolerate any attack against France and its interests and will respond immediately and intractably”, (sierraleonetelegraph.com-31/July, 2023). Other western countries spewed out various threats of economic and military foreboding. In response, the Triumvirate (Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso) threatened to break away from ECOWAS, and in January 2024, they announced their withdrawal from the 49-year old block. On 6 July, Niger’s General Abdurrahman Tchiani, Burkina Faso’s Captain Ibrahim Traore, and Mali’s Colonel Assimi Goita signed a confederation treaty, known as the Alliance of Sahel States, which they said would strengthen a mutual defence pact. Burkina Faso has since launched a new passport without the ECOWAS logo.
The President of ECOWAS Commission Dr Omar Turay later warned that the withdrawal of the Triumvirate, would put ECOWAS investments worth $1bn at risk. Claims of ECOWAS leading efforts to reintegrate the sister states was confirmed by Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu, that “We will do everything to offer a hand of friendship to them and give them reasons to come back to us,” It’s good you realised that the threat of military intervention was not one of the ways you could offer for their return. The Triumvirate called your bluff.
So, what is the driving force behind ECOMOG’s new approach?
There have been over 40 coups and attempted coups in Africa, with some 20 occurred in West Africa and the Sahel. With Mali (2020, 2021) Guinea (2021), Chad (2021) Burkina Faso (2022) Niger (2023) “successfully” installing military regimes in their respective countries in the last 3 years, what are the common denominators here? Firstly, they all share a common DNA dyed in French colonial umbilical cords. Secondly, they share the same indestructible desire to BREAK FREE from French Colonial exploitation. Even Senegal that changed its leaders through democratic elections last April, shares a similar political ethos. This wind of change, likened to The Arab Spring (Sahel version) does not only usher a tide of renaissance or the second independence from former French colonial relationship of assimilation, it directly threatens foreign and especially French economic interests in the region. In a recent conference on 05/09/24, former President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki blamed exploitative neo-colonial pressures and influences for Africa’s coup epidemic. He said, “I don’t believe those soldiers are instinctively anti-democratic, but they are addressing a different issue. And it’s a real problem…..It’s a political rebellion against old France-Afrique relationship”.
Mbeki recalled during the conference that when the AU asked South Africa to engage the Ivoirians to help resolve their issue in 2004-2006. One of the agreements which was signed when Cote D’Ivoire gained independence in 1960 was that France would maintain a French base in Abidjan and its French commander mandated to oversee national security interests of both France and Cote D’ Ivoire. This effectively meant that the French commander could take control of the radio and television and in effect the country, without the consent of the President of Cote D’Ivoire. This was just one of about 10-12 similar agreements. Be Twaaa?
Despite the protests about democracy, Mbeki believes that, “these coups can be avoided by restoring democracy that would require frank discussions with key stakeholders”. The impasse with the Triumvirate has since forced ECOWAS to recommend a “deep reflection with stakeholders on the relationship between electoral processes, democracy and development and make actionable recommendations on increasing the transparency and credibility of elections and promoting inclusive development and accountable governance. It looks like Sierra Leone fits the person specification and essential requirements recommended above for this job. Is that why Sierra Leone is the first recipient of those “actionable recommendations”?
Who is serving who?
There is no doubt that the Western world and its cabal of companies feel threatened by the wind of change blowing across the Sahel. It is early days yet, but as one of the largest producers of gold in the world, Burkina Faso has nationalised two gold mines from London Listed Endeavour Mining, and will no longer export the raw material but manufacture the finished product in house. Time will tell. Unlike The Triumvirate, Senegal elected Bassirou Faye through the ballot box. Nevertheless, his anti-French stance and desire for an equal partnership re-echoes those of the Sahel brothers The Western world sees this as a contagion, with the potential to spread like Corona Virus. (Pardon the comparison).
With foreign and especially the French at risk of losing their exploitative autonomy on the regions, do you get the sense that this is what is driving the ECOWAS cum ECOMOG new look? If not, why now? Why not when the region was gripped in the jaws of crisis after crisis? Is there a fear of contagion wafting along the corridors of western countries, that this could be Africa and especially West Africa’s new political fashion statement? Why is the West now pretending as if the concept of coups in Africa is a new phenomenon, when their fingerprints are all over every coup that ever took place in the region……since independence? Now that their interests are at risk, coups are anathema. Burkina Faso’s leader Captain Ibrahim Traore once accused ECOWAS of abandoning its core values and “cowering to western interests”. In effect, he is asking for ECOWAS to decolonize its mind. So, who is bankrolling this new ECOMOG look? Who is ECOWAS serving here? Can one heart serve TWO masters? Since “the initiative has been revived due to the persistent governance conflicts, coups, unconstitutional challenges in West Africa and other African countries”, could the ESDF be the Trojan horse from the West? I’m just asking on behalf of my cousin in Pendembu
What are the implications for the deployment of ESDF in Sierra Leone?
Brigadier Bangura mentioned that ECOMOG will operate under the Ministry of Defence and the Sierra Leone Police force, focussing on stabilisation, maintain peace and security. He denied it having any relation to the outcome of the Tripartite Committee. Some critics see it as the government admitting to its inability to stabilize the country. Others counter that it is a regional concept that will be rolled out in Ghana, Togo, and Cote D’Ivoire etc. Since no nation could prosper or develop in the face of instability, the hope is that ESDF will be a “force for good”.
However, what are if any, the political, social and economic implications for this deployment? Doom merchants already describe Sierra Leone as a vassal state of ECOWAS. They question how two separate forces can operate simultaneously during such peace times even though Brigadier mentioned that ECOMOG will operate under the Ministry of Defence and the Sierra Leone Police force. For the sake of discussion, wouldn’t it be nice to find out WHY have there been “persistent governance conflicts, coups, unconstitutional challenges in West Africa and other African countries”?
With what looks like a proactive and preventive approach, is ECOWAS/ ESDF going to do a root cause analysis of trigger factors like the bastardisation of national constitutions, arbitrary arrests of opposition members, corruption, lack of accountability, muzzling of free speech and the free press, tribalism, regionalism, police brutality etc. across the region, as some of the root causes of “persistent governance conflicts, coups, and unconstitutional challenges, in the first place?
Many see ECOWAS as a society for self-preservation. They turned a blind eye when Alpha Conde of Guinea shredded the constitution to extend his stay in power till death us do part. They kept their eyes wide shut when EBK summarily sacked the democratically elected VP Sam Sumana and defied the ECOWAS court ruling to reinstate him. When the ECSL refused to disclose the much maligned and contested aggregated election results, ECOWAS was selectively deaf, dumb and blind until Sierra Leone loitered on the precipice of self-destruction. They rightly or wrongly helped to arrange a get out of jail card for EBK recently. If ECOWAS aims to tackle the persistent governance conflicts, coups, and unconstitutional challenges via the ESDF across the region, it must first be ready to change its core tenets and decolonise itself. If history is anything to go by, should we expect foxes to vote for the welfare of chickens or turkeys to vote for Christmas? The devil is in the detail.
“Political stability is essential to national character and to the advantages annexed to it, as well as that repose and confidence in the minds of the people, which are among the chief blessings of civil society”- ( James Madison) . With a stabilising force in the country, we hope that this will not scare off investors. Critics of President Bio always accuse him for the amount of air miles he is racking up. Some believe that he has even qualified for his pilot licence. But the President has always defended these journeys as chiefly, to solicit and drum up investments for our ailing economy. President Bio and China’s President Xi Jinping have recently committed to strengthen cooperation. While the UN chief Gutierrez has underlined support for China-Africa partnership, the President of the African Development Bank has praised Saudi Arabia for billions of dollars of investment in Africa (the sierraleonetelegraph.com-05/09/24). The presence of ESDF can go both ways. We hope that the ESDF presence would boost confidence and reassurance to investors rather than uncertainty and doubts. We badly need those petro- Saudi- china dollars bra.
So, the next time you promise to make a country ungovernable, think again. When you go after your political opponents because they sing from different hymn sheets, remember the chaos and instability it will cause. The next time you call for protests to cause wanton destruction and death, think again. The next time you think that boycotting elections, parliament and encouraging expletives against opponents on a massive scale, think again. We just hope that ESDF will not be one of those “you shake, ar wap” but a new dawn of VAR for our politics.
Don’t forget to turn the lights out when you leave the room.
Abdulai Mansaray.
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