Dr Oluwole Ojewale, a scholar and Sahel expert based in Dakar, explores the implications of the recent Benin coup attempt for the region, the history of intervention by the Economic Community of West African States and its complicated relationship with the recently formed Alliance of Sahel States. Cooperation, even now military-led states in the Sahel, is key to stopping the descent of coups in West Africa he argues. “The region must revitalize security cooperation, even with the AES states. Isolation breeds insecurity. Niger’s withdrawal from counterterrorism coordination has created openings exploited by criminal networks and extremist groups, especially along porous borders with Nigeria and Benin,” Ojewale writes. “Without renewe
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