ECOWAS leaders warned Burkina coup has grave consequences for peace, stability
Accra, Ghana (PANA) - A virtual extraordinary meeting of heads of state of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) opened on Friday on discuss the coup d'etat in Burkina Faso with a warning that no country is insulated from the deteriorating political situation in the sub-region.
Ghana's president and current chairman, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in his opening statement, said last Monday's coup in Burkina Faso and its ramifications have grave consequences for the peace and stability of the region.
"The deteriorating political situation in our region should be a matter of grave concern to us. No country is insulated from its occurrence in the community and we have to take action to nip it in the bud," President Akufo-Addo said.
He noted that the coups in Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso are setbacks to democracy.
Added to these is the complex environment occssioned by terrorist attacks and pandemics, presenting a toxic situation.
Mali and Guinea have been suspended from ECOWAS and early this month, Mali was slapped with severe sanctions for going back on an agreement to hold elections by next month. Instead, the junta proposed a five-year transition, which it later reduced to four years.
President Akufo-Addo said despite the ECOWAS supplementary protocol on democracy and good governance, not everybody has accepted democracy, adding that "we still have some work to do and convince such people that we are all safer under democracies".
"The resurgence of coups in our community is in direct violation of our democratic tenets since it is a threat to peace, security and stability in the region. This situation hinders the much needed economic and social development of the region."
He told his colleagues that he hopes the meeting would find solutions to the urgent situation in Burkina Faso, restore constitutional order and stabilise the region.
"We should not renege in our collective duties and obligations to ensure a peaceful and democratic, stable and prosperous community," President Akufo-Addo said.
The head of the junta in Burkina Faso, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, in a broadcast on Thursday night, explained that the indicators of their agenda will remain "the level of restoration of the integrity of the territory and the quality of actions undertaken for the refoundation of the nation".
He pledged to convene the nation's active forces to agree on a roadmap that will aim to plan and carry out the recovery desired by all Burkinabes.
"When the conditions are met according to the deadlines that our people will have sovereignly defined, I commit myself to a return to normal constitutional life," Lt. Col. Damiba said.
-0- PANA MA 28Jan2022
