Nigeria’s Tinubu advocates regional African forces against coups, terrorism

Nigerian president Bola Tinubu said Africa’s regional bodies should set up military forces to fend off terrorism and military coups.

Speaking at a recent event in Abuja dubbed the State of Democracy in Africa, Tinubu said that empowering regional blocs to have their own stand by forces would thwart military coups and act as a bulwark against the surge of terrorism.

Tinubu called for revitalisation of sub-regional blocs, like Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), East African Community (EAC), and Southern African Development Community (SADC), as vehicles to usher in an era of robust intra-African commerce, economic growth, and job creation.

Of all African regional blocs, the Maghreb union (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania), remains the least integrated, due to Algeria’s border closure with Morocco.

As African regional blocs forge ahead with open markets, cross border energy cooperation and freedom of movement, Algeria locks itself in, hosts and backs the Polisario separatists, and cuts ties unilaterally with its most industrialized neighbor Morocco.