Juliana Taiwo
30 December 2008
Abuja — The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has rejected the two-year transition timetable canvassed by Guinea's junta led by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara.
Camara, who seized power last week following the death of long-time President Lansana Conte, had said his new ruling council would hold elections in December 2010.
Speaking with State House correspondents after meeting the ECOWAS Chairman, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, in Abuja yesterday, the President of ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, said the transition could be quicker and shorter either on an earlier date of May 31, 2009, as told the summit on December 19 in Abuja or 11 months at most.
Chambas said only a shorter transitional process would be acceptable to ECOWAS, the African Union (AU) and the international community.
He said he was in the country to commend Yar'Adua for the leadership role Nigeria is playing in the region, working to ensure peace, security and the development of the sub-region.
Yar'Adua had at the weekend sent an ECOWAS delegation to Guinea led by Chambas to ascertain the developments in the country and determine what the body could do to ensure peaceful transition to democratic rule.
"We have taken advantage to express compliments of the season to Mr. President, his government and the good people of Nigeria for his leadership role that Nigeria continues to demonstrate in our region, in working to ensure peace, security and the development of the sub-region.
"At the same time, I am sure you are aware that Mr. President has dispatched a high level ECOWAS delegation to Guinea to go there as a fact-finding mission to ascertain the developments in that country and to determine what ECOWAS can do to ensure peaceful transition to democratic rule in that country after the demise of former President Lansana Conte who you'll all agree ruled the country for many years in which the country did not have an opportunity to join the rest of West Africa along the path of democratic development," he said.
According to him, the delegation's visit did not in any way suggest that neither the ECOWAS nor the chairman of the Commission had endorsed the junta's government.
He said: "On the contrary, the position of the Chairman of ECOWAS, President Yar'Adua, is very clear, ECOWAS has a policy of zero tolerance for coup d'etats and so does the African Union. We work in tandem with the AU and in that regard, we made it very clear to the government, the CNDD in Guinea, that as long as there is a military face to the transition it will be difficult for the ECOWAS to work with the government.
"At the same time, ECOWAS is willing to find a way in which it can facilitate the establishment of a civilian transition to democracy in Guinea because democracy has to be built by the people and no single group or segment of the society can take it upon itself to impose democratic transition and that is why it is crucial that ECOWAS remains engaged with Guinea, the people of Guinea, the CNDD and to ensure that we bring about short transition and a transition in which the entire stakeholders in Guinea, political parties, civil society, unions and all can be a part of this transition which will now give Guinea an opportunity to join the rest of West Africa on the part of building democratic governance."
Asked if a short transition was a precondition for accepting the military junta, he said: "Well, I think this is an essential condition. Guinea is in a transition now. We must remark that we found that the country was calm and there has been no violence and we have to commend the security forces of that country for keeping the peace and security and we encourage them to continue to do that so that the people of Guinea do not suffer as we have seen in the past where there was a lot of violence, killings of civilians and harassment.
"But the task now is to involve all the Guinean people particularly, civil society, political parties and unions in a transition which I must emphasise should be short, go towards holding elections, credible, transparent, free and fair elections. If Guineans did that, I think they will have the support of not only ECOWAS, but that of the AU and the international community."
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