An official from the West African bloc has stated that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will ensure that Russia is held responsible if the Wagner Group, a private military contractor from Eastern Europe, violates human rights following the Niger coup.
During a live appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace, and Security, highlighted that a different West African country had an independent agreement with the security organization.
“The Wagner Group, apparently, is in Mali today. The Malian government says this is an agreement between them and the Russian Federation,” Musah said.
“We want to take them by their word, which means any sort of action that infringes on human rights or yeah, or devastation in our region by these private military contractors, we are going to hold the other countries of our region responsible for that.”
When questioned if he was referring to Russia, the ECOWAS representative emphasized, “That’s Russia — (we will hold them) responsible, diplomatically. The West African region is just not Russia.”
Musah pointed out that private military firms have been a consistent element within the African conflict landscape over the years.
“Private military companies were involved in Sierra Leone. They were involved in Liberia during those civil wars, long ago. And even recently in the global conflict, there has been the use of private military companies,” he said.
“The Americans are using them in Iraq; in Afghanistan, they use them, and others. What we are seeing is that these groups are not acceptable in Africa, even though they are there and we are going to hold their countries of origin responsible for any violations.”
The ECOWAS commissioner also brought attention to the ongoing participation of Western powers in Niger, which includes France and the European Union (EU). Additionally, he noted that the region had witnessed an increase in the presence of Middle Eastern countries like Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia, similar to the involvement of Russia and China.
“What we are saying is that we are not going to allow West Africa to be an arena of proxy wars again. And that is our attitude to Wagner. It is not our option,” he said.
“We do not want private military companies interfering in the conflict environment in the region because we know the consequences of their action.”
