Bridging the Capacity Gaps to meet West Africa’s Security Challenges

Over the past two decades the West African sub-region has made progress towards consolidating peace and democracy. However, in spite of these developments, the sub-region continues to be plagued by multiple security dilemmas which are not only national in scope, but have cross-cutting and cross-border characteristics. The sub-region is presently confronted with a mix of both old and new security threats including organized crime such as drug trafficking, terrorism and religious extremism, piracy, weapons proliferation, unconstitutional changes of government, and election violence.1 While there can be no doubt that the impacts posed by these threats lie more on West Africa States, it is also instructive to note that they have consequences on global security and more importantly, bilateral partners and institutions that are strategically linked to these rising challenges. In particular, the established link between threats such as drug trafficking with Europe makes Austria, which is a member of the European Union (EU), an important partner in the fight against it and the other related security problems. There is, therefore, the need for Austria to engage and garner more support among EU member states to complement the efforts being made by the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) and its member states in combating the negative consequences of the security challenges confronting the region. This paper examines the gaps and challenges inherent in the existing response mechanisms and initiatives in combating three of the threats, namely drug trafficking, terrorism and maritime piracy, and how these gaps can be tackled through capacity-building initiatives (human resource, technical and financial).