ECOMIG’s First Commander, Colonel Ndiaga Ndiouf, has underscored the critical need to integrate women and gender perspectives into the armed forces and peace operations across West Africa.
Colonel Ndiouf emphasised such a need in a statement delivered at a one-day conference focused on gender mainstreaming in military peacekeeping operations, outlining the importance of gender equity in ECOWAS peace operations by the Gambia Armed Forces, in collaboration with the ECOWAS Mission in The Gambia (ECOMIG) and other security institutions.
The event brought together key stakeholders from the country’s security sector to discuss how to integrate gender perspectives into peacekeeping missions at the GAF Training School in Fajara.
Under the theme “Gender Integration in Security Forces: Progress and Challenges,” the conference aimed to evaluate ongoing efforts to promote gender equality within the armed forces and identify obstacles that continue to hinder full inclusion.
Addressing the international requirement for women’s integration into defence and security forces since the 2000s, Ndiouf highlighted UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which mandates involving women in conflict prevention, management, and resolution.
He noted that ECOWAS, active in conflict resolution since 1975, aligns its Peace Support Operations (PSOs) with international standards, including Resolution 1325, the African Charter Protocol, and the Maputo Protocol. These require increased women’s participation and gender mainstreaming.
Ndiouf emphasised that gender issues are “key instruments” for ECOWAS in maintaining regional peace and security.
He called for ECOMIG, in collaboration with The Gambia’s security forces (FSDF), to undertake an initiative reflecting on ‘gender mainstreaming’. This exercise aims to assess achievements and identify major challenges in the field.
“To be in phase with ECOWAS commitments, such an initiative must be taken,” Ndiouf concluded.
Additionally, Major Eunice Holman and Captain Lillian Chidinma Ake discussed integrating gender perspectives into peacekeeping missions and conceptualising gender in peace and security operations in strengthening equity in the security forces.
