𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐁𝐢𝐨 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐬 𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡

In an interview with FRANCE 24 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Julius Maada Bio, the president of Sierra Leone and chairman of ECOWAS, stressed that Africa was not represented fairly in the UN when “70 percent of the decisions of the issues before the Security Council are mostly about Africa”. Asked about the three military-run countries that left ECOWAS back in January, he said he was “engaging each and every one of them”, in order to bring security back to West Africa and boost economic integration.
Speaking to FRANCE 24, Bio reiterated that Africa was excluded from international organisations and that it was “the only continent not represented on a permanent level” at the United Nations. According to Bio, Africa’s representation in the UN is “long overdue”, given that decisions are being made about its future without “our input”. “We want two permanent seats and two additional seats at the non-permanent level,” he stated.
Asked about Africa’s input on issues like debt cancellation, Bio said: “We have been excluded from most things, and the international financial institutions are no exception.” Calling for reform of the latter, he said: “We have solutions that are quite practical to our situation, and we should have a voice”.
‘Bringing security back’
Bio became the chairman of the West African regional bloc ECOWAS in June, a role he is due to hold for a year. Regarding the three countries that went through military coups and formally left ECOWAS back in January – Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – Bio plans a different approach to what ECOWAS has done before, which mainly involved sanctions and threats of military intervention.
“We have to give it (ECOWAS) a new lease of life”, Bio said. “I want us to play a major role in bringing security back, in making sure that the insecurity that they (Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger) suffer at the moment is taken care of, but that means very tight engagement with all of them,” he said.
Bio added that he is in contact with the coup leaders and plans to visit all of them. In fact, he recently met with the coup leader of Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traoré. According to Bio, Traoré was “responsive” to this new approach and “very happy” that the head of ECOWAS met with him to understand Burkina Faso’s situation.
Asked whether this approach might legitimise the coup leaders, Bio said that with “the level of insecurity that is present in these countries, I think we have to prioritise security and then maintain or intensify our economic integration programmes with them, making sure that they are part of ECOWAS.”
He added: “Of course, we have to share the same values of democracy. But we can’t do this if we do not engage them. They have to see or endure the benefits or the dividends of democracy.”