PHOTO: MRU Defense Ministers and military chiefs
By Augustine Octavius, augustineoctavius@gmail.com
Monrovia- Defense ministers and military chiefs from the Mano River Union have ended a two-day meeting with the adoption of a number of a resolution aimed at preventing the spread of terrorism into the MRU basin, with a joint response to the growing security threats in the Liberian capital
The defense ministers and military chiefs, who were from Ivory Coast, Guinea, Sierra Leone and host Liberia, agreed to reactivate the joint security and technical committees as well as the joint border security and confidence building units.
The defense ministers and military chiefs also agreed to ensure that the resolutions are coordinated at a national level of each member states.
The delegates also resolved to develop a sub-regional counter terrorism strategy by drawing inspiration from the one developed by the West African regional organization, ECOWAS.
The participants encouraged member-states to hold regular and rotational meetings between intelligence security agencies so as the share information and intelligence
The defense ministers and military chiefs of the MRU deplored the violent terroristic attacks recorded on some of the member countries of the union.
The meeting reviewed the current security structures in the region and advised on the need for the four countries to ensure a common strategy in preventing and addressing the growing security threats especially terrorism by activating and strengthening the joint regional meeting of the joint security committee, the technical committee and operationalizing the joint border security and confidence building units.
The defense and military chiefs also welcomed the joint approach involving the United Nations, the West African regional organization, ECOWAS, and other development partners, which helped in many ways to ease tensions in the MRU region.
The participants agreed that the document should circulated to all national governments and the ECOWAS authority before or on June 12, 2021and the all the member states are given up to July 12, 2021 to make their positions known on the action plan
Speaking at the program marking the end of the meeting, MRU Secretary General Madina Wesseh, pointed out that the union is pleased with the partnership with the various delegations and look forward to the implementation of the plan of action.
She admonished the various delegates to accelerate their cooperation by ensuring their respective governments act on the document in order for it to be forwarded to the United Nations Office for ECOWAS and the Sahel for further assistance in the implementation stage.
The MRU Secretary General stressed the need to begin the implementation process by the reactivation of the various committees in order to set the agreement into motion.
Ambassador Wesseh also encouraged the various governments to ensure that the joint border security unit is reflected in the national budget of member-states of the MRU.
For her part, the Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General to ECOWAS and Sahel, Giovani Bahi, commended the MRU secretariat for efforts made for the successful hosting the meeting .
She assured the MRU of the fullest support of the United Nations Office for ECOWAS and the Sahel in order to ensure that the chaos being raged by the terrorists in Sahel does not spread in the region.
Also speaking, the head of the Guinean delegation, Brigadier General Malaimu Sylla, assured the MRU that her government will work cooperatively in order to make sure that decisions reach at the meeting are implemented.
She thanked the Liberian government for the hospitality given her and her delegation during the tenure of the deliberation of the MRU meeting.
In remarks , Sierra Leone’s Deputy Minister of Defense, Maana Massaquoi, expressed his country’s fullest support for the decision reached by the Defense Ministers and military chiefs of the MRU countries.
During the closing program, Liberia’s Defense Minister, Daniel Ziankahn, disclosed that the document will be taken by the various delegations to their respective governments for their approval.
The meeting, held under the theme: “A Sub- Regional Approach in Addressing Growing Security and Terroristic Threats,”: was organized by the MRU and sponsored by the United Nation Office for ECOWAS and the Sahel.