Particle.news
Download on the App Store
4 ARTICLES
·
1h ago

ECOWAS Declares West Africa in a State of Emergency as Coups Multiply

Analysts question what practical measures will follow the declaration.

FILE - Soldiers ride in a military vehicle along a street amid an attempted coup in Cotonou Benin, Sunday Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo, file)
FILE - Omar Touray, president of the ECOWAS Commission, left, Gambia's President Adama Barrow,, center and Nigeria Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar pose for a photo, prior to the start of the ECOWAS meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Olamikan Gbemiga, file)
Image

Overview

  • ECOWAS Commission President Omar Touray told the bloc’s mediation and security council in Abuja that recent political and security crises make it “safe to declare” the community in a state of emergency.
  • Touray cited a growing erosion of electoral inclusivity, saying elections have become major triggers of instability across multiple member states.
  • The declaration follows a failed coup attempt in Benin announced on state television and a military takeover in Guinea-Bissau that removed President Umaro Embaló and installed Horta Inta-A.
  • Touray urged more frequent mediation sessions beyond the usual two over the next year and called for pooled resources to confront terrorism and banditry that ignore borders.
  • Observers noted it is unclear what legal or operational changes the declaration will produce, with some seeing a bid to restore ECOWAS credibility after it threatened but did not intervene in Niger in 2023.