AROUND 4,600 have been killed in West Africa by over 1,800 terrorist attacks during the first six months of the year, a top regional official said on Tuesday. 

Omar Touray, president of the Economic Community of West African States, told the United Nations security council that the level of attacks represented just “a snippet of the horrendous impact of insecurity.”

Mr Touray said that half a million people in the 15-nation comunity are refugees and nearly 6.2 million are internally displaced. 

He told the council that if there wasn’t an adequate international response to the 30 million people who need food right now, the number of people in need will increase to 42 million by the end of next month.

Mr Touray singled out terrorism, armed rebellion, organised crime, unconstitutional changes of government, illegal maritime activities, environmental crises and fake news as the key drivers of insecurity in the region.

He said the region is worried about the resurgence of the military, with three countries — Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea — under military rule.

Mr Touray said: “The reversal of democratic gains runs parallel to insecurity that West Africa and the Sahel have been facing for some time now,” while insecurity continues to inflict pain and suffering on millions of people.

He said the 4,593 deaths in terrorist attacks between January and June 30 include 2,725 in Burkina Faso, 844 in Mali, 77 in Niger and 70 in Nigeria. 

Mr Touray added that terrorist attacks in Benin and Togo, which have coastlines on the Atlantic ocean, are a “stark indication of the expansion of terrorism to littoral states, a situation that poses additional threat to the region.”

He reiterated the African Union’s request for African peace operations to receive funding from the UN regular budget, to which all 193 member states contribute.

The security council was also briefed by the new head of the UN office for West Africa, Leonardo Santos Simao, who appealed for “robust and decisive support” for the action plan to eradicate terrorism in the region and efforts by countries to stem insecurity in the Sahel.

Russia’s deputy ambassador Anna Evstigneeva called the security situation in West Africa and the Sahel “difficult,” pointing to increased activity by fighters from the Islamic State extremist group, subversive activities by Boko Haram, and the spread of terrorist activity to coastal West African countries.