The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Committee of the Chiefs of Defence Staff (CDS) yesterday pledged their commitment to the sustainability of democracy in the sub-region.

At their meeting in Abuja to review the pledges for the ECOWAS Standby Force and other issues, the military chiefs promised to address the various security challenges facing the sub-region.

Nigeria’s CDS and Chairman of the ECOWAS Committee of CDS, Gen. Christopher Musa, said the meeting was evidence of a shared commitment and dedication towards fostering secured West Africa.

According to him, the complexity of the security landscape demands that member-nations leverage their collective expertise, intelligence assets and coordinate efforts across borders.

He said: “We must therefore support our political leadership by entrenching a conducive and secure environment for economic development to thrive.”

He added: “Recognising that today’s threats are not only complex and adaptive, they pervade and in cases traverse countries in the subregion, we must therefore commend the foresight of our past leaders for setting up this platform to leverage for collective action against a common threat.

“Accordingly, the complexity of the security landscape demands that we leverage our collective expertise, intelligence assets and coordinate our efforts across borders if we must solve these challenges, as the world has become a global village and the gap between us shrinking even more.

“Thus, collaboration is paramount and imperative to address both the root causes and symptoms of insecurity in our region. “It is on this premise that the agenda for this meeting was carefully crafted to focus on critical areas while building from our previous engagements.

“Some of these critical areas, include the proposed review of pledges for the ECOWAS Standby Force, consideration of pledges for ECOWAS Standby Force Counterterrorist Brigade and the rotation of Staff Officers of Peace Support Operations Divisions and ECOWAS Standby Force as well as Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea.

“Others are the presentation on the outcome of the Governmental Experts Meeting on the ECOWAS Logistics Concept and Standing Operating Procedures for ECOWAS Logistics Depot in Lungi.”