ECOWAS leaders meet on political situations Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso
Accra, Ghana (PANA) - A one-day summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) began in Accra on Saturday behind closed doors to hear updates on the political situations in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, where they military leaders apppear to have brushed aside calls for acceptable timetables to return to constitutional rule.
The coup leaders of the three countries have incurred the anger of the ECOWAS leaders, who early this year imposed stiff economic and other sanctions on Mali and have indicated that Guinea and Burkina Faso would suffer the same fate should they not produce those timetables.
But the respective transition timetables are far outside the demands of ECOWAS leaders.
The coups truncated constitutional rule and have been seen as an unwelcome phenomenon that has to be ended for the sub-region to thrive along democratic lines.
Ghana's President and current chairman of ECOWAS, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, said in his brief opening remarks that during their last summit in Accra last March, they took decisions based on briefing they received on the matter.
Saturday's summit, he said, would assess and examine the situations in the three countries "in light of recent developments in the regional and global context which affect the countries".
President Akufo-Addo said the ECOWAS leaders would continue to focus on political instabiliy in the sub-region, adding that with the unfortunate matters of the three countries, their objective is to find ways to help them return to constitutional order.
"This would allow them to deal better with the security and humanitarian challenges they are facing."
The meeting is also being attended by the President of the African Union Commission (AUC), Moussa Faki Mahamat.
-0- PANA MA 4June2022
