Regional Cooperation in West Africa: Counter-Terrorism and Counter-Insurgency

Abstract

The challenges of terrorism and insurgency have continued to attract regional response. A significant aspect of such response is the demonstration of shared responsibilities by various nation states in regional cooperation to stamp out the menace of terrorism. The EU member states for instance adopted a regional approach to counter transnational security threats by embracing common standards and unified approach to Counter-Terrorism and Counter-Insurgency (CT-COIN). Likewise in West Africa, the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) was recently reinvigorated to deal decisively with the cross-border terrorism in the Lake Chad Basin. This is in addition to other regional architecture that constitutes the needed ingredients of regional cooperation in West Africa. The operations and activities of these regional outfits have been destabilized by several challenges due to the peculiarities of security cooperation at a regional scale. Against this background, this article examines regional cooperation within the context of CT-COIN in West Africa with a view to establishing the challenges of such collaboration. The article unbundles the dynamics of terrorism and insurgency in West Africa. It engages the regional architecture for CT-COIN in the region and it underscores the challenges of regional cooperation. The article offers some measures for improving regional cooperation for an improved CT-COIN in West Africa.