Touray emphasized that the declaration is not symbolic, but a call for collective action to restore confidence in governance and protect citizens from deepening insecurity. ECOWAS leaders stressed the urgent need to safeguard democracy and the rule of law, warning that unchecked coups could unravel decades of regional integration efforts. The bloc reaffirmed its “zero tolerance” policy for unconstitutional changes of government, pledging stronger sanctions and coordinated security measures.

Since 2020, several military coups d’etat have taken place in West Africa, including Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. A coup attempt was launched Dec. 6 in Benin, but was thwarted by Nigerian military intervention. A regional crisis is driven by armed insurgencies, economic hardship, and weak institutions, creating viable ground for military rule. Analysts warn that the erosion of constitutional governance undermines the credibility of democratic institutions and threatens long-term stability.

The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, to which each ECOWAS member state is a party, contains multiple articles addressing rights violations which may arise from a coup d’etat. Article 1 obliges governments to recognize and uphold the rights and freedoms contained in the charter. Article 13 guarantees a citizens’ right to “participate freely in the government of his country, either directly or through freely chosen representatives.”

From JURIST, Dec. 11. Used with permission.

See our last report on the coups d’etat in West Africa.

Map: World Sites Atlas

The newly sanctioned individuals include ICC Second Vice President Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou (Benin), Judge Solomy Balungi Bossa (Uganda), Judge Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza (Peru) and Judge Beti Hohler (Slovenia). Under the sanctions, all property and interests in property of the sanctioned persons that are in the US, or in possession or control of US-based persons, are blocked, and all transactions by persons within (or transiting) the US that involve any property or interests in property of the designated persons, are prohibited, unless authorized by a general or specific license.

The State Department specified that Bossa and Ibanez Carranza were sanctioned because of their ruling to authorize the ICC’s reopening of an investigation of possible war crimes by US forces in Afghanistan, while Alapini and Hohler were sanctioned because they authorized the ICC’s issuance of arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.

The statement said that the action “reflects the seriousness of the threat [the US] face[s] from the ICC’s politicization and abuse of power.”

The ICC responded in a press release, expressing its unwavering support of Court personnel and calling the sanctions a direct attack on the independence of the Court. The ICC stated:

These measures are a clear attempt to undermine the independence of an international judicial institution which operates under the mandate from 125 States Parties from all corners of the globe… The ICC stands fully behind its personnel, and will continue its work undeterred, in strict accordance with the Rome Statute and the principles of fairness and due process, with a view to bringing justice to victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression.

From JURIST, June 6. Used with permission.

See our last reports on the ICC investigations into the US in Afghanistan and Israel in Gaza, and genocide accusations against Israel.

Photo: OSeveno/WikiMedia

National Park W, where the attacks took place, is part of the WAP complex (made up of W, Arly and Pendjari national parks) straddling the borders of Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger. The park complex has become heavily militarized in recent years in response to jihadist infiltration from the north. (Mongabay)

Map: Gregor Rom/Wikimedia Commons

Orano, which has been present in Niger since 1971, has other operations in the country. A mine at Arkokan has been closed since 2021, but Orano continues to run a uranium mine in the northern region of Arlit. However, exports are beset by what the company calls “logistical” difficulties. Niger, which accounts for about a quarter of the natural uranium supplied to Europe, is landlocked, depending on sea access through neighboring Benin. And Benin authorities shut the border in May as tensions between the two countries grow.

The dispute also places in jeopardy Niger’s plan to begin exporting oil via a recently completed Chinese-built pipeline through Benin.

Russian companies have meanwhile indicated interest in picking up the uranium mining lease at Imouraren. (Al Jazeera, BBC News, BBC News)

The uranium dispute comes as French and US forces have been forced to withdraw from Niger, and Russian forces have moved in.

Also June 20, the chief of the Pentagon’s Africa Command (AFRICOM), Marine Corps Gen. Michael E. Langley, appeared to confirm that he had had traveled to other West African countries to discuss the stationing of US troops following the withdrawal of US forces from Niger. Addressing a virtual news conference after a meeting of African military leaders in Gaborone, Botswana, Langley expressed concern about extremist organizations exploiting instability in regions with weak governance, especially naming West Africa.

When asked whether Benin, Ghana or Ivory Coast are being considered for a US military base, Langley replied: “Yes, I’ve travelled across West Africa, across coastal West Africa. Those that are up against the growing threat, whether it’s on their borders or already across their borders… I listen to what they need to be successful.” (MyJoyOnline)

Map: World Sites Atlas

But little is known on the rules of engagement and strategy to be put in place to fight the gangs, who control most of the capital—even whether the force will directly engage with the armed groups alongside the Haitian National Police. In the meantime, the gangs have not let up, killing three missionaries (including an American couple), attacking more police stations, and trying to seize control of the Gressier commune in Port-au-Prince. They have also posted direct threats to the MSS force and paraded their heavy weaponry on social media. Amid reports of a large inventory of Colombian weapons being sold to Haitian gangs, some experts worry that the firepower of the gangs has been underestimated.

From The New Humanitarian, May 31

Photo: Haiti Liberte

The UNHCR called on Ghana to stop the deportations, saying that they amount to a violation of the non-refoulement principle. The agency urged the Ghanaian government to “guarantee access to the territory and asylum to nationals of Burkina Faso seeking international protection.”

The Ghanian Ministry of National Security has denied the allegations. Contrary to the report, it claims, the Ghana Refugee Board has collaborated with the UNHCR to set up a reception center with a capacity of 4,000 individuals in the Upper East Region. Currently, 530 displaced Burkinabé nationals are said to be accommodated there.

From Jurist, July 14. Used with permission.

Photo: Leonardo Perez Aranda via Wikimedia Commons

This is the second such claim of responsibility for an attack in Togo by JNIM in the last two weeks. On Nov. 19, the Qaeda affiliate took credit for an assault on a Togolese military position near Sankortchagou, also in Togo’s northeastern Kpendjal prefecture (Savanes region). That assault left two soldiers wounded.

JNIM has now claimed three attacks within Togo this year. The first, another raid on army troops that left eight soldiers dead in May, was also claimed in an online audio statement. The attacks have raised fears of insurgency spreading from conflict-torn Burkina Faso into West Africa’s littoral states. (Long War Journal, APA News)

Map: Togo Department of Health

Togoland, a German colony since 1884, was divided between the UK and France as trust territories after World War I. British Togoland was on the west, adjacent to the British colony of Gold Coast (today Ghana); French Togoland was on the east, adjacent to the French colony of Dahomey (today Benin). As independence for Ghana was being negotiated, a plebiscite was held under UN supervision, in which British Togoland voted for union with Ghana. French Togoland, in turn, became the contemporary state of Togo. Independence advocates today reject the plebiscite as illegitimate because Togoland, the homeland of the Ewe people, was not able to vote as a whole for independence.

The new secession movement was set off by the central government’s plan, carried out last year, to break up Volta region, creating Oti region in the north, and diluting Ewe power.  (DW, UNPO, UNPO, UNPO, Global Security, Graphic Online, Accra, Ghana Web, Modern Ghana, Ghanian Times, via AllAfrica)

Photo: ISS Africa

“It is unprecedented,” said Metsi Makhetha, the top UN official in Burkina Faso. “The country has never had to deal with such massive displacement.”

The crisis, which has now displaced 135,000 people, is part of a wave of violence currently sweeping across Africa’s Sahel—a belt of land below the Sahara desert that is experiencing an alarming increase in violent extremism despite the presence of UN peacekeepers and Western and regional forces.

In Burkina Faso, more than two thirds of those displaced have been uprooted since the start of the year, the equivalent of roughly 1,000 people every day, according to UN figures. At this rate, Daouda Djouma, an official at the UN’s emergency aid coordination body in Burkina Faso, has said the number of displaced could reach more than 380,000 by December.

Though all communities have been targeted by militants, the majority of recent killings have affected members of the Bella, Foulsé and Mossi groups, according to Human Rights Watch. This has increased ethnic tensions between these groups and members of Burkina Faso’s cattle-herding Fulani community, which has been targeted for recruitment by the militants. A Mossi citizen’s militia known as the Koglweogo is held responsible for a string of recent atrocities against the Fulani community.

Mali, bordering Burkina Faso on the north, has seen a wave of paramilitary attacks on Fulani. There are now fears the crisis could spread into countries bordering Burkina Faso on the south—Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin and especially Togo.

Condensed from The New Humanitarian, April 17

Photo: The New Humanitarian

The Boko Haram insurgency, under growing pressure in Nigeria, is now spreading to Niger and Chad—while still launching terror attacks in Nigeria's cities. Late last month, Boko Haram suicide blasts left several dead in the Nigerian city of Maiduguri, while feirce gun-battles were reported between militants and security forces in Chadian territory. Nigeria, Niger and Chad have joined with Cameroon and Benin to form a five-nation regional force against Boko Haram. (Nigeria Today, BBC News, July 6; Al Jazeera, June 28)

Note that in Uganda, the clearance of peasants from their traditional territories to create counterinsurgency zones has resulted in usurpation of their lands. Peasants have also been usurped of their lands in the official "villagization" program in Ethiopia.