ECOWAS Force to assist UN Mission in Mali
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Force
By Temitope Ponle
Abuja, Oct. 21, 2016 (NAN) Chief of Staff, ECOWAS Standby Force (ESF), Col. Seidou Morou said on Friday that plans are underway for the troop to assist the UN Mission in Mali at the level of the African Union.
Morou told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the end of a five-day workshop, organised by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and ECOWAS on humanitarian laws in Abuja.
The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), was established by Security Council resolution 2100 of April 25, 2013.
Under the terms of the resolution, according to a report, the Mission would support the political process and carry out a number of security-related stabilisation tasks.
It will also focused on major population centres and lines of communication, protecting civilians, human rights monitoring and the creation of conditions for the provision of humanitarian assistance.
Others are the return of displaced persons, the extension of state authority and the preparation of free, inclusive and peaceful elections.
Morou described the Malian crisis as a “complex one” and that plans were underway to “generate” a force to assist the mission.
“The crisis in Mali is very complex but the population does not understand that; what is going on is not only a conventional war but an asymmetric war. When in Mali, it was no longer ECOWAS Standby Force, it is MINUSMA, that is the UN Mission; the standby force wants to go back but at the level of the AU.
“We are trying to generate a force that will assist MINUSMA because it cannot do all the missions, because UN mission is a peacekeeping mission. When you need a force to intervene, UN Mission cannot because they have to get a mandate different from the one they have,” he said.
He explained that it is a peacekeeping mission not fighting force, “so we need another fighting force that can intervene in the crisis. People are making mistakes, peacekeeping mission is not a peace imposing mission; peacekeeping missions do not have the mandate to fight.”
Morou further added that the just concluded workshop would promote the respect for human rights and humanitarian laws by security personnel.
He added that the respect for human rights and the humanitarian laws would reflect positively on the institution and the sub-region.
“We want security personnel to be aware of the international humanitarian laws so they can assist efficiently in crises situations and reduce casualties.
“No matter the crisis, we will like the military to be well-behaved by respecting human rights, so this can reflect positively on the institution and the sub-region,” he said.
Mr Frederico Almendra, a delegate for the Armed and Security Forces for the Lake Chad representing ICRC, said that the workshop would assist security personnel in the application of humanitarian laws in their operations.
“You have the simultaneous applications of different legal frameworks that officers frequently are called to manage and it becomes very complicated.
“The objective was to dispute less the value of international humanitarian law and see how it can be applied to the kind of operations they conduct,” he said.
The workshop addressed the inclusion of relevant legal concepts into the planning of military operations.
No fewer than 50 security personnel from the 15-member states participated in the workshop, organised by the ICRC and ECOWAS. (NAN)
(Edited by Julius Enehikhuere)