Posted by This Day Online on
ECOWAS Executive Secretary Mohammed Ibn Chambas yesterday challenged other sub-regions in Africa to establish standby forces akin to West Africa's ECOMOG as a building bloc for an African standby force.
ECOWAS Executive Secretary Mohammed Ibn Chambas yesterday challenged other sub-regions in Africa to establish standby forces akin to West Africa's ECOMOG as a building bloc for an African standby force.
Speaking in Abuja when a delegation of the U.S. Defence University, Washington DC, called on him, Chambas said such forces had become necessary going by the number of internal conflicts on the continent.
He said that regional standby forces would become the building blocs for an African Union (AU) standby force.
He traced conflicts on the African continent to the colonial era when boundaries were demarcated without regard to the indigenous people, saying that the situation initially led to inter-state conflicts.
The executive secretary said that intra-state conflicts which set in, affected neighbouring states by producing refugees, child soldiers, trafficking in women and exploitation of natural resources by combatants.
He said that the U.S. played a key role in the formation of ECOMOG and its deployment to Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire.
The 17 generals and admirals, led by Robert Sennewald, are on a six-week tour of countries friendly to the U.S.
Also welcoming the US delegation to the Senate yesterday, Senate President Ken Nnamani said it was the Senate's desire to compare notes with the US Congress about legislative oversight functions.
He said that Nigeria's democracy was patterned after that of the U.S., adding that the present administration was determined to promote the growth of democracy in Nigeria.
The Senate President pledged the co-operation of the National Assembly with the visitors to achieve better understanding between the two countries.
Earlier, the leader of the American delegation, Gen. Robert Sennewald, said they were on a six-week study tour of US allies in Africa and Europe.
He said the team would also visit South Africa, Kenya and Djibouti before going on to some NATO countries in Europe.
'We are very pleased and proud to be here,'' Gen. Sennewald said.
In his address of welcome, chairman Senate committee on Defence and Army, Sen. Fidelis Okoro (PDP-Enugu), pledged the utmost co-operation of the National Assembly with the visitors in answer to all their legitimate needs.
He expressed hope that by the end of the study tour, the objective of the US government in initiating the project would have been amply rewarded.
Okoro said that such mutual interaction would help the U.S. government and other governments to rely less on false negative impressions about Nigeria.
On his committee's functions, the chairman said they included examining the expenditure accounts of the Executive and its agencies to ensure that they conformed with appropriations ``to prevent fraud and mismanagement''.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that military delegation later held separate closed-door interactive sessions with the committee and the Senate President.