The organization of Roman Catholic cardinals, archbishops, and bishops of West Africa, RECOWA (Reunion of Episcopal Conferences of West Africa), has sent a letter opposing military intervention in Niger to the chairman of ECOWAS, Bola Tinubu, the other heads of state of ECOWAS, and the junta in Niger, advising them not to deploy military forces to Niger to avoid creating another Libya. They call instead for restraint and discernment.
They write: “Terrorism already has a macabre toll of widows, orphans, displaced persons, the hungry, the maimed and so on. People are not expecting the regional, African and other institutions to add to this toll…. The lives of the peoples of West Africa are at stake.”
They cautioned ECOWAS, the African Union, and other parties involved in the conflict in Niger against placing geopolitical and other interests ahead of the lives of the people in West Africa:
“We affirm that nothing can justify the creation or facilitation of an environment that is destructive to our people. No individual, national, regional, geopolitical or denominational interest or project should take precedence over the preservation of life, human dignity and the wellbeing of the future generations in West Africa and beyond,” they said.