In his speech delivered during the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Togo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration, and Togolese Abroad, Professor Robert Dussey, firmly expressed Togo’s stance regarding a potential military intervention by ECOWAS in Niger to restore President Bazoum, who was overthrown.
Togo disagrees with the option of military intervention in Niger. The Togolese foreign minister made this clear on Thursday during the 78th UN General Assembly in New York.
Central to his speech, Robert Dussey highlighted the increasing number of coups in West Africa. Referring to the case of Niger, the minister advocated for a peaceful resolution of the situation. He strongly criticized ECOWAS’ plans for military intervention to restore constitutional order after the coup on July 26th.
“Our West African region, where several states are in transition in a volatile security context, needs the active support of all. We must invest more in peace rather than war. If the protagonists of conflicts in the world are listening to us, I would like to remind them that war is a denial of human dignity. As the great Enlightenment philosopher Emmanuel Kant so aptly put it, if the decision-makers of war could send their own children to the front, there would never be war. Togo is a country of peace and opposes war for whatever reasons. Since our independence on April 27, 1960, Togo has never engaged in war against its neighbors, never attacked any neighboring country, and has never served as a rear base for aggression against brotherly countries. Togo is a country of peace, and peace is in the DNA of the Togolese people,” he declared.
The minister also addressed other issues such as terrorism, climate change, and socio-political crises. He expressed concern about Africa’s vulnerability, stating that the continent risks becoming a sanctuary for international terrorism and remaining the weakest link in the global security system. He emphasized that the Gulf of Guinea states, once spared, are now paying a heavy price for terrorism.
These positions of the Togolese minister at the United Nations General Assembly reflect Togo’s firm stance against any form of military intervention in the region, advocating instead for a peaceful resolution of conflicts.
