Terrorists have killed at least 14,500 people in the West African region in the four and a half years.
Over 5.5 million people had also been displaced across the sub-region over the period.
This was revealed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Wednesday.
The outgoing President of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, disclosed this at the handover ceremony to the new president, Dr Omar Alieu Touray.
Mr Brought said, “First of all, the deterioration of the security situation has caused havoc, not only in the Sahel area, affecting Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and the North East of Nigeria, but it soon expanded to the coastal zone, hitting Côte d’Ivoire, Benin and Togo.
“Terrorist attacks and herds of bandits plunged these countries into mourning, with close to 14,500 dead in four and a half years, threatening the peace of rural population, and forcing people to seek shelter away from their home areas.”
Mr Brou said the commission had reached out to provide assistance to many of the affected people and victims of natural disasters.
In his remarks, Mr Touray called on member countries to continue supporting the commission by ensuring the full payment of the community levy and full implementation of ECOWAS protocols.
