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Abuja, Nigeria – Leaders of a 15-nation West African bloc have called for greater structural reforms as they step up efforts for the introduction of a shared currency, aimed to be launched in 2020.

In a statement issued late on Saturday at the end of an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) summit in Nigeria‘s capital, Abuja, the leaders said they had adopted ECO as the name of the planned currency.

The bloc, which represents an estimated population of about 385 million people, said it acknowledged a 2018 report which underlined “the worsening of the macroeconomic convergence” and urged member states to do “more to improve on their performance” as the deadline for the establishment of a monetary union approached.

The 2018 report called, among others, for the promotion and liberalisation of regional trade, the consolidation of the customs union and the creation of a free trade area – all of which are yet to be met.

Mahamadou Issoufou, ECOWAS chairman and Niger’s president, said there was “a real firm political will” to increase efforts ahead of the January 2020 deadline.

“We are of the view that countries that are ready will launch the single currency and countries that are not ready will join the programme as they comply with all six convergence criteria,” Issoufou said.

Analysts sceptical

Leaders in the bloc have for decades held discussions and meetings on issuing a common currency amid efforts to boost regional trade and investment, without, however, making significant progress.

Currently, eight ECOWAS countries – Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo – use the CFA Franc, while the other seven – Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone – have their own currencies.

Adewunmi Emoruwa, a policy analyst with Gatefield, a public strategy and media group, said he was not convinced that the introduction of a single currency would solve the region’s economic problems.

“The common currency on its own will not necessarily make doing business any easier than it is now. If policymakers see the single currency as the magic wand for boosting intraregional trade, they will be disappointed,” Emoruwa told Al Jazeera.

“The ECOWAS bloc is particularly volatile, both politically and economically. It means countries might need to create unique responses to shocks which would be limited by the common monetary policy control.
Moreover, it’s uncertain that regional economies are strong enough to back bailouts in the event of a crisis among participating member states,” he said.

According to the African Development Bank, regional inflation has stood at double digits since 2015, way above the five percent target outlined as one of the convergence criteria for ECO’s implementation. Meanwhile, Nigeria, which controls two-thirds of the regional economy, has struggled to meet its growth projections

Security challenges

Separately, in his address welcoming the leaders to the summit, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari expressed concerns about increasing violence and attacks in the region.

“Despite the overall appreciable progress we have made, particularly in the field of political governance, our sub-region continues to face considerable security challenges,” Buhari said.

“We are all witnesses to the recurring incidents of intercommunal clashes, herder-farmer conflicts, banditry and terrorist attacks in all our countries,” he added. “The need for the adoption of a common strategy at the national and regional level to combat them [Insecurity], has become imperative”.

In recent years, several countries in the region have been dealing with both internal and external security threats.

Ethnic clashes in Mali have left hundreds dead and thousands displaced, while armed groups operating across the Sahel have been attacking targets in Niger and Burkina Faso.

Nigeria has long tried to effectively deal with threats from the Boko Haram armed group, while clashes between herders and farmers have also increased insecurity concerns in the country.

Violence between the groups over access to grazing land and water, which is becoming scarce in the face of rapid population and drought, has left thousands dead.

“In Nigeria, there is an underlying dishonesty in tackling the issue, and that dishonesty has fuelled mistrust, which worsens the problem, and makes it to metastasise,” Cheta Nwanze, security analyst with SBM Intelligence, told Al Jazeera.

“In most other West African states, their problem is a straight up lack of resources to tackle the issue, but they are more honest about it than Nigeria, hence the problem will probably not go away,” Nwanze added.

British police have declined to investigate the leak of details from a secret government discussion about Chinese telecoms company Huawei, saying the disclosure did not amount to a crime. 

In a statement on Saturday, Neil Basu, Britain’s counter-terrorism chief, said he was satisfied the leak, which brought down the defence secretary, did not breach the Official Secrets Act.

“No crime has been committed and this is not a matter for the police,” he said.

Opposition politicians had called for an investigation after Prime Minister Theresa May sacked Gavin Williamson as defence secretary over media reports that Britain had agreed to let Huawei participate in some aspects of Britain’s new 5G wireless communications network.

The decision was reportedly made at an April 23 meeting of the National Security Council (NSC).

The council’s discussions are only attended by senior ministers and security officials who first sign the Official Secrets Act that commits them to keep conversations private or risk prosecution. 

Basu, whose section is responsible for investigating alleged breaches of the act, said a probe would be inappropriate.

“I am satisfied that the disclosure did not amount to a criminal offence, either under the Official Secrets Act or misconduct in a public office,” the assistant commissioner said. 

“The leak did not cause damage to the public interest at a level at which it would be necessary to engage misconduct in a public office. It would be inappropriate to carry out a police investigation in these circumstances.”

‘Royally screwed’ 

Williamson has strenuously denied he was the source of the leak, which appeared in The Daily Telegraph newspaper and suggested May had cleared Huawei to be involved in “non-core” elements of the 5G network, such as antennae.

On Saturday, he told the Daily Mail newspaper: “I have been royally screwed over. It is pretty painful. The only thing I want to do now is clear my name.”

The 42-year-old was once a trusted ally of the prime minister.

He was May’s parliamentary campaign manager when she successfully ran to become Conservative Party leader in 2016.

He was duly rewarded with the job of chief whip – tasked with enforcing discipline for the Conservatives in parliament and wielding power over misbehavers.

May appointed International Development Minister Penny Mordaunt to replace Williamson. 

The United States is adamantly opposed to Huawei’s involvement in developing Britain’s 5G network due to the firm’s obligation under Chinese law to help its home government gather intelligence or provide other security services when required.

David Lidington, May’s effective deputy, said on Thursday there were no plans to pass information from an internal leak inquiry to the police, saying the prime minister regarded the matter as closed.

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies

Russian and Syrian forces have stepped up air raids and shelling on rebel-held areas of northwestern Syria, the heaviest assault in the area since it was declared a demilitarised zone last year.

Villages and towns in northern Hama province and southern Idlib that were targeted overnight on Wednesday are part of a “safe zone”, agreed in September between Russia and Turkey, as part of a deal that averted a major offensive on the area.

Schools and residential areas have been hit, Panos Moumtzis, the UN regional humanitarian coordinator, told Al Jazeera.

“There have been a number of casualties that have taken place in many locations: in health facilities, in schools, in residential areas,” he said, adding about 250,000 people had been displaced

Separately, he told Reuters news agency “the barrel bombing is the worst we have seen in 15 months”.

A war monitor and activists said on Thursday that four members of a family, including two children, were killed in an air attack in Kansarfa village, in the Idlib countryside.

Since Tuesday, attacks have forced thousands of civilians to flee to camps further north along the Turkish border and damaged four medical facilities, according to civil defence officials and a US medical aid agency working in the area.

“Medical facilities are being evacuated, leaving the most vulnerable with no access to medical care. We are on the edge of a humanitarian catastrophe,” Khaula Sawah, vice president of the US-based Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Syrian army helicopters have dropped barrel bombs, which are drums or cylinders packed with explosives and shrapnel that cause indiscriminate destruction, killing at least 15 civilians and injuring dozens, rescuers in Idlib said.

Opposition-run civil defence agencies say hundreds of people, mostly civilians, have been killed by Russian and Syrian attacks since the September deal, which prevented a potentially devastating offensive on Idlib and nearby areas held by fighters and now home to more than three million people.

Syrian state media, quoting army sources, blamed rebels for the assaults and said it targeted “terrorist groups” in towns in northern Hama including Kfr Nabouda.

Seven countries to hold Geneva talks

The military escalation is expected to be a focus of talks in Geneva on Friday between envoys from seven countries, including US Ambassador James Jeffrey and UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen.

Idlib is the last major area of Syria still in rebel hands after a string of government offensives backed by Russian air power since 2015 turned the tables in a protracted civil war.

President Bashar al-Assad has regained control over most of the country, with the northeast held by Kurdish groups backed by the United States.

Idlib is held by an array of rebel groups, including the powerful Hay’et Tahrir al-Sham, a coalition of armed groups including those formerly affiliated with al-Qaeda.

Turkey, which has supported the rebels and has troops to monitor the truce, has been negotiating with Moscow to halt the air attacks with little success.

The main Turkish-backed rebel grouping said they were rushing extra fighters to the main fronts to face all “possibilities”.

In response to the escalation, rebels said they mounted several rocket attacks on army positions including the Breideej army base in northern Hama, wounding and killing at least four Russian soldiers in a mortar attack that hit their vehicle.

“We have stepped up our readiness and sent troop reinforcements to confront any attack [by] the regime and the Russians on any area,” said Naji al-Mustafa, spokesman for the National Liberation Front coalition of rebel groups.

“We cannot leave matters like this… We are preparing for any possibility,” he added.

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies