MONROVIA: The African Youth Peer Review (AYPRC) is calling on the international community, especially the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and other regional bodies in Africa, to take appropriate actions against individuals who are associated with military takeovers in West African states and other parts of Africa.
AYPRC in a release said its concern is from the backdrop of the recent coup attempt in Guinea-Bissau were several persons lost their lives as a result of a fight between government forces and dissident soldiers.
The group says it is also concerned about the frequent wave of military coups in Africa, referencing the military take-overs in Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso, and Guinea, as well as further east in Sudan.
AYPRC wants the leadership of regional and international organizations to place sanctions on all those who are involved in Military take-over in Africa so that it would serve as deterrence for would-be actors.
The group release quotes its National Coordinator, Jeddlee S.Kinni as saying that countries in West Africa could return to their nomenclature of being coup-prone- nations if steps are not taken to avert the current situation.
“This is becoming habitual in the governance system of Africa once again. We cannot afford to go back to our ugly past as a continent. This has to stop.
We are calling on the international community, specifically those African bodies that are responsible to advance peace in the region, to take seize of this matter so that Africans cannot be internally displaced in their own homeland due to political crisis,” Mr. Kinni intimated.
At the same time, the African Youth Peer Review Committee has commended the Government of Liberia for endorsing a program that tends to rehabilitate over forty thousand underprivileged young people who have been referred to as Zogoes in the country.
AYPRC believes such a move comes at a time when the social welfare of less-fortunate young people are needed the most, especially when they have, in fact, become a threat to the country’s security.