Regional intervention force begins 10-day training in Benin

A rapid deployment force being groomed by West African countries to intervene in the region’s conflicts began a 10-day training exercise in Benin on Monday. The Defence Ministry said in a statement that up to 2,000 West African, European and North American military personnel were due to take part in the exercise in southern Benin which was organised by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The largest West African troop contingents came from Benin, Nigeria, Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali and Ghana, it added. Military sources said 96 Ivorian troops who were due to take part failed to arrive in time for the start of the exercises and it was unclear whether they were still coming. Cote d'Ivoire suffered a fresh upsurge of internal fighting earlier this month. The ECOWAS secretariat in the Nigerian capital Abuja said in a statement at the weekend that 1,500 troops would take part in the Benin exercise, which would focus on providing humanitarian assistance within the context of managing a regional crisis. The manoeuvres would be conducted with the help of the French armed forces under a French programme to reinforce Africa’s peace-keeping capabilities, it added. Several other Western countries, including the United States, Canada, Britain, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and Austria are also providing support. ECOWAS said a key aim of the exercise in Benin was to attain the standards required by the United Nations for the provision of humanitarian assistance in peacekeeping operations. The 1,500 ECOWAS troops are due to form the vanguard of a much larger intervention force envisaged by the organisation. The deployment of this Task Force to a conflict hot spot in West Africa would be followed by the dispatch of up to 5,000 more ECOWAS troops within 30 days. West Africa remains one of the world's most conflict-prone areas. The United Nations currently has about 26,000 peace-keeping troops deployed in Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire and Sierra Leone. While Liberia and Sierra Leone are both emerging from more than a decade of civil wars, Cote d’Ivoire has been sliding deeper into conflict since a failed coup in 2002 split the country into a rebel-held north and a loyalist south. More than one million people have been displaced from their homes by the conflict in Cote d'Ivoire, which was a bastion of stability in the region until it plunged into civil war two years ago. The recent resurgence of this conflict threatens to destabilise the peace process in Liberia and diplomats fear it could also infect neighbouring countries, particularly Guinea. West African defence chiefs announced the creation of the 6,500-strong rapid intervention force at a meeting of the ECOWAS Defence and Security Commission in Abuja in June. They agreed that a Task Force of 1,500 troops would form the spearhead of such operations. A further 3,500 troops would provide a back-up brigade, with 1,500 more ready in reserve if needed. The creation of the Task Force was prompted by the difficulties encountered by ECOWAS in the rapid deployment of peacekeeping tRoops to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire. ECOWAS, which groups 15 West African countries, was founded in 1975 to promote regional economic integration. In recent years it has increasingly assumed a high-profile role in tackling local conflicts. Since 1990, ECOWAS troops have intervened to try and quell conflicts in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau and Cote d'Ivoire. Often they have gone in as the precursor of a UN peacekeeping force. France's military presence in its former colonies in West Africa, where it has more than 8,000 troops stationed in four countries, has been back in the spotlight since the latest eruption of violence in Cote d'Ivoire on 4 November. The latest trouble there has involved conflict between France's 5,000 peacekeeping troops in the country and supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo.