Ministers in charge of security services in ECOWAS Member States have
called on the relevant authorities to improve the salaries, living and working
conditions of internal security forces to enhance their effectiveness in the
prevention and combat of crime in the region.
This was one of the key recommendations of the 4th Meeting of ECOWAS Chief of Security
Services (CCSS), which was adopted by the Ministers at the end of the one-day meeting
of their 9th Forum on
Saturday 15th September
2012 in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
Another recommendation adopted by the Ministers urged Member States to
outline short, medium and long-term National Security Strategy aimed at making
the region safe and secure.
The Chiefs of Security Services also called on ECOWAS to allocate more
financial resources to the Commission’s Departments of Human Development and
Gender, and the Political Affairs, Peace and Security, to organize
joint/simultaneous police operations against transnational organized crimes.
The Ministers further enjoined Member States to ratify the 2003 Police
Intelligence Cooperation Agreement, and for a simplified approach to the
exchange of criminal suspects/exhibits from one police force to another through
the National Central Bureaus of INTERPOL.
Member States were also urged to honour their financial obligations to
the Regional Bureau of INTERPOL.
The Ministers equally adopted the recommendation of the 13th Annual General Assembly of the
Committee of West Africa Police Chiefs (WAPCCO), urging the ECOWAS Commission
to allocate an autonomous budget to WAPCCO, to enable it establish and operate
at an optimal level. The
Committee’s permanent secretariat is currently domiciled at the Commission’s
Regional Security Division.
Another recommendation of the CCSS adopted by the Ministerial Forum is
that ECOWAS should take measures to mitigate the security impact on countries
in the region in case of any intervention in Mali. This is in reference to the regional
initiative, in consultation with the international community to deploy an
ECOWAS Mission in Mali (MICEMA) to assist Mali restore its territorial
integrity and retake its northern region occupied by separatist rebels.
The Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West
Africa (GIABA), a specialized ECOWAS agency, is also urged to organize specific
training on techniques relating to financial investigations for Law Enforcement
Agencies in the region.
Cote d’Ivoire’s Interior Minister, Honourable Hamed Bakayoko, who
chaired the 9thMinisterial Forum, commended ECOWAS, its Member
States and the INTERPOL for their strong support to the platforms put in place
for the deepening of cooperation and harmonization of strategies among the
police and other security services for the effective combat and control of
organized crimes in the region, including, terrorism, drug trafficking, piracy
and money laundering.
In her remarks, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and
Security, Mrs. Salamatu Hussaini Suleiman, appealed to Member States yet to
ratify the ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons to do so without
further delay as the region moves towards the elaboration of a Regional Concept
and Plan of Action for the Security Sector Governance/Reform, one of the
components of the 2008 ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework, which focuses on
human security.
The WAPCCO and CCSS Meetings as well as the 10th Meeting of the Ministers Forum are to
be held in Niger in 2013.
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