The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has warned Russia that it will hold the country accountable if the Wagner Group, a private military contractor, violates human rights in Niger.
TrackNews Media reports that the warning comes in the wake of the recent coup in Niger, which some analysts believe may have been supported by the Wagner Group.
ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah, said that the bloc would not tolerate any human rights abuses by the Wagner Group in Niger.
“We want to take them by their word, which means any sort of action that infringes on human rights or yeah, or devastation in our region by these private military contractors, we are going to hold the other countries of our region responsible for that,” Musah said while appearing on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily Friday.
Musah also pointed out that private military companies have a history of human rights abuses in Africa.
“Private military companies were involved in Sierra Leone. They were involved in Liberia during those civil wars, long ago. And even recently in the global conflict, there has been the use of private military companies,” he said.
“The Americans are using them in Iraq; in Afghanistan, they use them, and others. What we are seeing is that these groups are not acceptable in Africa, even though they are there and we are going to hold their countries of origin responsible for any violations.”
The ECOWAS commissioner also highlighted the current involvement of Western forces in Niger, including France and the European Union (EU). He said the region had also seen an influx of Middle Eastern nations, such as Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia, in addition to Russia and China.
“What we are saying is that we are not going to allow West Africa to be an arena of proxy wars again. And that is our attitude to Wagner. It is not our option,” he said.
“We do not want private military companies interfering in the conflict environment in the region because we know the consequences of their action.”
