ECA leads efforts to deal with causes of crisis in Sahel region

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), is leading other agencies within the UN to revamp action plans to address the root causes of complex crisis in Africa’s Sahel region.

This, the ECA says it will do by outlining a development vision for the region through a prospective socio-economic study.

In a press release copied to ghanabusinessnews.com, the ECA says complex crises in ten countries, largely in the West African enclave, (Burkina Faso, Chad, Cameroon, the Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Niger, and Senegal) will be studied with the backing of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres who told a conference in February that it was possible to achieve peace, stability and prosperity in the Sahel.

Issues of concern in the study are issues that have serious impact on human security and sustainable development in the Sahel.

Some of the issues to be looked at under the study include complex national and cross-border security threats in the region and governance crises as well as structural climatic stress.

The Sahel, though plagued by a host of problems, is endowed with abundant natural resources like oil, gold and uranium, which if managed equitably and in a sustainable manner, can transform the lives of the millions of people in the region.  At least 24 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in the Sahel this year hence the ambitious UN initiative, the release noted.

This prospective study it added, which also falls within the framework of reshaping the United Nations Integrated Strategy for the Sahel (UNISS), the African Union’s 2063 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and aims to identify the fundamentals and set conditions needed for the region’s development will enable the ten concerned countries to come up with a sustainable response to the region’s challenges, particularly those relating to governance, security, and sustainable development.

By Bismark Elorm Addo