Liberia President, Johnson-Sirleaf chairs ECOWAS

 
Liberia President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has been elected the Chairperson of the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS).

She takes the position after Senegal’s President Macky Sall, who spent 14 months as head of the organisation.

The decision to elect the 77 year-old, Harvard-trained economist, was taken at the 49th Ordinary Session of Heads of State of the Regional bloc held in Dakar, Senegal, last Saturday.

According to a release, issued by the ECOWAS Secretariat, a number of Presidents of the Sub-regional bloc were present at the summit.

They are the presidents of Benin – Ghana – John Dramani Mahama; Patrice Talon; Burkina Faso - Roch Marc Christian Kaboré; Cape Verde - Jorge Carlos de Almeida Fonseca; Ivory Coast - Alassane Ouattara; the Guinea - Alpha Condé; Liberia-Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Mali - Ibrahim Boubacar Keita; Niger - Mahamadou Issoufou; Senegal - Macky Sall; Sierra Leone - Ernest Bai Koroma.

Also present were the Nigerian Vice President - Yemi Osinbajo; Prime Minister of Guinea Bissau - Baciro Dja and representatives of Heads of State of the Gambia and Togo.

Besides the election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, West African leaders decided to hold their next regular meeting in the Senegalese capital, at a date to be fixed after consultations.

The Summit also decided to extend for a year the mandate of the ECOWAS Mission in Guinea-Bissau (Ecomib).

The Heads of State and Government asked Ghana, Cape Verde, the Gambia, which are holding their general election this year, to create a conducive climate for peaceful, free and transparent elections.

They also asked the Commission to deploy in these three states technical pre-election missions to assess - with all stakeholders - the state of preparations for the elections.

He also urged the election observation missions to prepare the ground for the deployment of the ECOWAS observation missions.

SOURCE: GNA