The members of the Regional Conference of Major Superiors of West Africa (URCAO/RECOMSWA), has reiterate the calls the Catholic Bishops of the Regional Episcopal Conference of West Africa (RECOWA) to the leaders of ECOWAS and their partners to put a stop to any military intervention plans to restore constitutional order in Niger and instead to use diplomacy and negotiations in handling the situation.
“We join calls for restrain, discernment and responsibility on the part of ECOWAS and other regional and international bodies in this delicate matter. Since the war in Libya, the West African sub-region has seen the erosion of its security amid increase in terrorist attacks in a number of countries,” said Rev. Fr. Paul Saa-Dade Ennin SMA, President of RECOMSWA in a Press Release.
RECOMSWA is made up of Consecrated Men and Women of the Catholic Church working in the West African Sub-region.
The August 12 Press release titled “On the situation in Niger: No to military intervention” stated that the security situation in the West Africa had become very fragile and any military intervention in Niger would not only worsen the situation in Niger but also procure dire consequences capable of destabilizing the entire sub-region.”
“While we condemn the coup d’état in Niger and the use of force to seize power, we are equally against the use of military force to restore constitutional rule. In the same vein, we condemn the undemocratic usurpation of power in all its forms– manipulation of the electoral process, rigging, use of violence and intimidation, vote buying, manipulation of constitutional provisions to extend one’s rule among others. We call on ECOWAS and the African Union, in the interest of peace and development of the continent, to also focus on these governance issues in their member states with the same firmness and alacrity,” the RECOMSWA President stressed.
Fr. Ennin therefore called on the powers that be to avoid any proxy war in Niger over the control of its resources and their geopolitical interest. Africa needs peace, adding, “The people of Niger and of the sub-region need peace! Sovereignty lies in the hands of the people and they must be the ultimate beneficiary of their God given resources. Let us not add to the plight of the Nigerien people.”
According to him, the Consecrated Men and Women of the West African Sub-Region “stand in solidarity with the people of Niger at this difficult and delicate times,” calling on members, and all persons of good will to pray for peace in Niger and in the Sub-region.”
“We pray Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace and seek the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace, that peace will reign in Niger and in the West African sub-region,” he concluded in his release.
