The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Christopher Musa, says the Armed Forces of Nigeria is committed to working with Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in spite of their withdrawal from ECOWAS.
Musa gave the assurance on Thursday in Abuja, when he received a delegation of the Sahelian Think Tank from Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger known as ‘Alliance De Sahel’.
The delegation led by the Coordinator, Fusion Center for Dialogue and Peace Processes, Aliyu Gebi, is in the country to under study Nigeria on its non-kinetic approach to tackling the menace of terrorism and the success of operation Safe Corridor.
The defence chief stressed the need for Nigeria and the Sahelian countries to work together to address terrorism, adding that whatever happens in the Sahel resonates with the country and vice versa.
He said that the militaries of the region were working together to achieve peace, and revealed his intention to visit Mali and Burkina Faso.
“This meeting came at a very good time, especially now that so many things are happening in Africa. It shows the unity of purpose.
“Your presence here from the Sahelian countries shows that we are still united, in spite the challenges.
“And for all Africans, we must unite. The enemies we are dealing with are enemies that don’t mean well for us, especially in the Sahelian region.
“They have no respect for life, no respect for humanity, no respect for boundaries.
“It is critical that we must work together to fight and defeat them, and I am happy that we have our brothers from Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and other countries here to come and see what we are doing with our disarmament programme with Operation Safe Corridor,” he said.
Musa emphasised that the kinetic and the non-kinetic operations must go hand in hand, adding that the kinetic accounts for only 30 per cent of the solution.
He said that the non-kinetic was basic, adding that there must be good governance within the countries, fairness, justice, and equity to be able to overcome the challenges.
“With that, our citizens will feel safe, wanted, and have a sense of belonging.
“It is only then that we can put heads together and work to ensure that we defeat all arms of criminality within our region.
“Last year, I had the privilege of visiting the Niger Republic, and I met with the Chief of Defence there.
“Now we want to extend same to Burkina Faso and Mali to show unity, and that we need each other for us to succeed.
“Our brothers from Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, we are one family. Don’t allow anyone to tell you anything otherwise,” he added.
The CDS advised the Sahelian countries to block terrorists access to mining sites and trace their foreign sponsors to block their sources of funding.
Responding , the leader of the delegation, reiterated that the region would be safer and stronger working together .
Gebi said that whatever happened in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso would resonate in Nigeria.
He commended the Nigerian military for winning the war against insurgents but stressed the need to harmonise strategies towards winning peace.
He said the team was in Nigeria to study how to connect kinetic and non-kinetic operations to win peace.
The Head of delegation of the Alliance of Sahel States, Gen. Aime Sampore, said that, there was the recognition that a serene and stable Sahel would transmit directly to a serene, stable and prosperous Nigeria.
Sampore said that a serene, stable and prosperous Nigeria would also directly transmits, not only to a serene, stable and prosperous Sahel, but to the whole of Africa.
This, according to him, is the purpose of the visit
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