FILE - The defense chiefs from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) countries excluding Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea and Niger, pose for a group photo during their extraordinary meeting in Accra, Ghana, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. Defense chiefs of West Africa on Thursday, June 27, 2024, proposed a $2.6 billion plan to fight the region’s worsening security crises, a measure that analysts say though ambitious might not work due to challenges of funding and division within the regional bloc. (AP Photo/Richard Eshun Nanaresh), File)