Chairman of Economic Community of West African States, Mahammadou Issoufou, has called on member states to take decisive steps in tackling terrorism in their countries.
Issoufou, who is also President of Niger Republic, made the appeal during the 56th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of States and Government in Abuja, Nigeria.
He said the West-African sub-region had been hard hit by terrorist attacks, which had intensified and had threatened many national and regional achievements and developments already made by member countries, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
“The creation of a common area of peace, security and economic integration is without the slightest doubt the key to the future of our region.
“Current regional and global developments in security constrains me to dwell on the security situation of our region.
“Our region has been hard hit by terrorist attacks every passing day, threatening the national and regional achievements we have made.
“We therefore hope that the prompt implementation of the recommendations of our extraordinary summit on terrorism held on September 14 in Ouagadougou will enable us to collectively meet this challenge, which appears to be an attack by faithless criminals on our dignity and sovereignty.
“The terrorist attacks continually test our commitment to fighting the scourge.
“It is therefore incumbent upon us to respond to all these attacks with firmness and determination,” Issoufou said.
