By Buba Gagigo
Hon. Abdoulie Ceesay, the National Assembly Member for Old Yundum constituency and Deputy Majority Leader of the Gambia’s National Assembly, has said that a military intervention in Niger is unlikely to resolve the crisis.
In an opinion piece titled “Climate Change Is an Ally of Jihadists in Africa” published in Newsweek magazine, the Old Yundum Constituency NAM (National Assembly Member) contrasted the ECOWAS intervention in the Gambia with the prevailing situation in Niger today. He concluded that the success of the ECOWAS intervention in the Gambia may not be easily replicated in Niger.
“As a Gambian Parliamentarian who witnessed the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)’s intervention in my country in 2017, I know that military intervention in Niger is unlikely to solve the crisis. In the Gambia, ECOWAS managed to restore democracy without resorting to bloodshed. But what happened in 2017 cannot be repeated in one-size-fits-all fashion,” he wrote in an essay titled
Hon. Ceesay also said ECOWAS intervention in Niger is likely not only destabilized an ‘already fragile’ region ‘struggling’ to contain the rise of Islamist extremists, it will fail to address the root causes—an omission that he said will empower extremists like never before.
Hon. Ceesay said that the coups in the Sahel are “climate coups” and that the international community is failing to recognize their root cause, which is climate change.
” Are these incidents separate crises, or part of something larger? The fact that few are acknowledging is that Niger’s coup, like those in neighbouring countries, is a “climate coup”—a crisis born of climate impacts largely ignored by the international community.” he wrote.