In response to the challenges of terrorism West Africa is facing, ECOWAS developed the Counter terrorism Strategy and Implementation Plan as a means of countering terrorist activities in the region as well as putting in place large scale measures against terrorism. To keep track of the acts of insurgency as they relate to ECOWAS countries, CDD created the ECOWAS Counter Terrorism Strategy Tracker (ECTS Tracker). The tracker is an open data platform that provides a practical analysis of operational policy framework for ECOWAS counter-terrorism, actions, supports and serves as a knowledge base that promotes a common regional approach for counter terrorism by both state and non state actors. This is done through the documentation and analysis of cases, activities and incidences of extremist violence across the West African sub-region. The past month has seen a sharp rise in inter-communal clashes between ethnic groups in the Sahel, most especially between Fulani and Tuareg groups in Niger and Mali. There have been increasing civilian casualties across West African countries most especially in Nigeria and Mali from inter-communal ethnic clashes and the state security forces seem ill-equipped to respond.
