President Akufo-Addo and his colleague ECOWAS Heads of State have resolved to continue their fight against all forms of terrorism and political unrest in the subregion at the regional body’s 52nd Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government.
The activities of Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, and terrorist groups in the Sahel Region are amongst the specific extremist groups that were mentioned as posing the greatest threat to West African Region.
Agenda of 52nd ECOWAS Ordinary Summit
Institutional issues, political and security situation in Guinea Bissau, allocation of statutory positions in ECOWAS, Tunisia’s observer status, association agreement between the regional organization and Mauritania and Morocco’s membership of the community are among the main issues that was on the agenda of the 52nd Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Closed Door Session
The ECOWAS kicked off the summit with a closed door session strictly for just the Heads of State. The West African leaders reviewed the report of the 79th Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers, the report of the 39th Ordinary Meeting of the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council alongside the 2017 annual report of the Commission President, Marcel de Souza.
Nigerian Leader
In his welcome address at the Congress hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel as host of the Summit, President of Nigeria, Mahamudu Buhari called for a joint effort on the part of ECOWAS to ensure that all West African Citizens catch up in the slavery saga in Libya are evacuated and resettled in the various countries of original domicile.
On Liberia, he congratulated the leadership and people of Liberia for conducting themselves equitably during the first round of elections. He urged them to do same during the upcoming second round election and elect a leader who will be sworn into office in January 2018.
President Buhari condemned the political and security situation in Guinea Bissau’s body politic. He urged the leadership of the country to as a matter of urgency embrace dialogue to resolve the issues of the country.
Representative of UN Secretary-General
The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel, Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambers conveyed the regards of the UN Secretary General to leaders of the West African Sub Region.
He urged the leaders to make the provision of basic services to their peoples such as health, employment, water, and food a top priority. It is in this provisions that the people of the subregion will stop their attempts to migrate illegally to Europe and elsewhere, Dr. Chambers noted.
Host of 53rd Summit
The Republic of Togo will be the host country and venue of the 53rd ECOWAS Summit which will take place in June 2018.
Source: 3news.com | FHCB