A four-day workshop has been organized by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to create civil-military coordination techniques to support humanitarian operations in West Africa.
During the workshop in Lagos, Dr. Sintiki Ugbe, Director, Humanitarian, and Social Affairs, ECOWAS Commission, Abuja, stated that this was essential in light of the various humanitarian difficulties the region faces.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, representatives from all 15 ECOWAS members were present at the workshop, which got underway on April 3rd.
The workshop is scheduled to end on the 6th of April 2023.
Ugbe said that providing humanitarian aid to the population’s most vulnerable members was a crucial task that ECOWAS ought to pursue with all of its might.
“Our region is faced with conflicts, terrorism, the impact of climate change, food insecurity, and many other challenges as this has led to a surge in humanitarian assistance.
“But, in providing humanitarian assistance, civilians cannot do it alone, they need military assistance to work together in a coordinated fashion to deliver assistance to vulnerable population.
“So, what we are trying to do as ECOWAS is to see how we can strengthen Civil-Military coordination, as it has become important in our region because it is difficult for humanitarian actors to reach those who are in need.
“The only way to enhance humanitarian access is to strengthen the synergy of Civil-Military coordination to promote compliance with humanitarian principles with comparative advantage in the use of our resources as civilians and military,” she said.
Ugbe claimed that over the years, the Heads of State of the ECOWAS member nations had given their support and cooperation to the organization.
She said: “Through their approval and mandate, we have the ECOWAS community levy that we use for implementing our programmes but that is not enough.
“We also mobilize resources from our partners, just like this workshop is done with partnership between ECOWAS commission and some other organizations, with funding from the European Union and we have our United Nations partners who are providing technical support.”
Earlier, the workshop’s program officer, Mr. Usman Obeche, stated that the workshop’s main goal was to set up working groups for ECOWAS.
He claims that the workshop also aims to create connections between the working groups and other pertinent forums including the national disaster risk reduction platform, the ECOWAS-standardized emergency management system, and the regional committee for disaster management in West Africa.
At the end of the day, he claimed, ECOWAS and member states would have been developed, and rules and norms for the employment of national military capabilities in emergencies would have been established.
“Challenges in military coordination would be identified as well as emerging policy issues and gaps in the field of response,” Obeche said.
Participants were given the assurance that the workshop will be strategic by Mr. Trond Jensen, Head of Office, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), in his goodwill address.
Jensen emphasized the significance of genuine cooperation and positive communication between the military and people.
This, he claimed, was crucial to resolving issues at hand and creating a better future.
In line with worldwide best practices, he stated, “this workshop will be strategic, and discussions will build an acceptable civil-military coordination strategy for the ECOWAS area.”
Ref: NAN