Abdulfattah Olajide and Aisha Umar
25 October 2009
Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) leaders yesterday resolved to grant Guinea Bissau $3.5 million dollars to clear arrears of salaries owed members of her armed forces with a view to creating a conducive atmosphere for the country's presidential election slated for June 28, and ensuring durable peace and security in the country. ECOWAS will also provide another $350 000 to plug the funding gap for election.
These resolutions were adopted at the 36th Summit of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS member states held in Abuja. In a communiqué issued after the summit, ECOWAS said the measures were taken to improve the general security environment in Guinea Bissau. The ECOWAS leaders condemned the March killing of late President Joao Bernado Vieira and General Tagne Na Waie.
The ECOWAS leaders also agreed to provide logistic support in form of transportation and communication to the Guinea Bissau government for the conduct of the election.
It added that the session also reviewed other political developments in the region, particularly the situation Niger and the representative of Niger reassured the session that all political stakeholders will continue to operate within the ambit of respect for constitutional legality and rule of law and that no action could be taken in violation of the constitution of Niger.
Declaring the summit open earlier, President Umaru Musa Yar'adua pledged to convene an international donors' conference on Guinea Bissau as part of the efforts to ensure political and economic stability in the country.
"There is the critical need to entrench political and economic stability in Guinea Bissau. This imperative has informed my decision to convene, very shortly, an international donor round-table on Guinea Bissau in Abuja under
my chairmanship. It is my hope that, collectively, we will do all within our powers to consolidate democracy in West Africa such that conflicts in whatever form will be mitigated, if not completely eliminated under my chairmanship. The focus will remain on the imperatives of socio¬-political and economic stability and meaningful integration", he said.
He stated that only a strong and focused leadership in individual countries can redress the socio-economic problems facing the West African sub-region.
"We gather here today at a time of great political and economic challenges for our world and our region. In the face of these challenges, we have an abiding obligation to provide strong and focused leadership within the ambit of ECOWAS.
This Summit therefore provides us a platform to collectively interrogate those issues which mediate growth and development within our region and work out sustainable solutions", he said.On the free movement of goods and services across the sub-region, Yar'adua, who is the current ECOWAS chairman, frowned at the inability of ECOWAS leaders to ensure the successful implementation of agreements signed on the issue.
"It is sad to note that 30 years after the signing of the Protocol on the Free Movement of Goods and Services, we have yet to significantly remove the bottlenecks at our borders which continue to encumber effective economic integration. The reality of the global economic situation today makes it critical for us to recommit to investing the relevant protocols with the requisite political will", he said.
Some 14 Heads of State and Government attended the one-day summit. They include Presidents of Ghana, Benin, Niger, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia and Mali. Others are the Presidents of Togo, Burkina Faso, Cote'd'Ivoire and Cape Verdes. The Gambia was represented by its Vice President.
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