The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has publicly dismissed claims of genocide targeting any religious group within the region, arguing that such labels are false, dangerous, and aimed at distorting social cohesion within the bloc.
In a communiqué released late Tuesday, the ECOWAS Commission asserted that these claims are deliberately targeted at worsening insecurity and undermining unity across the West African region.
ECOWAS’s strong statement comes in the wake of the U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent decision to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) over allegations of genocide targeted at Christians.
The regional body countered this assertion, stating that terrorist violence in West Africa affects all segments of society and that perpetrators target innocent civilians of all faiths—including Muslims and Christians alike.
The communique noted that independent reports consistently show that terrorism in the region “does not discriminate on the basis of gender, religion, ethnicity, or age.
ECOWAS urged the international community, including the United Nations, to stand in solidarity with West African nations in their collective effort to combat terrorism and to “treat as false any claims that these terrorist groups target one group, or that there is a genocide of one religious group in the region.”
CULLED FROM CHANNELS
