ECOWAS Defence Chiefs Determined to Fight Regional Insecurity, Terrorism

12 March 2012
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Economic Community of West African States (Abuja)
press release

Abidjan - Cote d' Ivoire — ECOWAS Chiefs of Defence Staff have ended an emergency meeting in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire with wide-ranging recommendations on how to tackle security threats in the Sahel region and the Gulf of Guinea.

The decisions made at the meeting, which ended 9th March, 2012, are to be submitted for validation by the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, which gave the directive for the emergency meeting at the 40th Ordinary Summit held in Abuja, Nigeria last February. Speaking on behalf of his colleagues at the closing ceremony of the Abidjan meeting, Senegal's Chief of Armed Forces, General Abdoulaye Fall expressed the hope that if implemented, the recommendations would help promote peace and security in the region.

The new chairman of the regional Chiefs of Defence taff, Cote d'Ivoire's Major General Soumaila Bakayoko, praised the spirit of brotherhood that guided the discussions, adding that Member States were united in their resolve to meet the security challenges facing the region. During the opening ceremony, General Bakayoko had noted that solutions initiated by individual Member States to end regional insecurity had limitations. He therefore called for joint efforts and the strengthening of strategic partnerships at the regional level.

Speaking in the same vein, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security Mrs. Salamatu Hussaini Suleiman, said that threats to peace and security were causing recurring political and socio-economic instability in the region. She reaffirmed the commitment of the ECOWAS Commission to continue to work with stakeholders in collective efforts to build a more peaceful, secure and stable community to promote development, the welfare and prosperity of the people.

The Ivorian Minister of Defence, Honourable Paul Koffi Koffi, welcomed participants to the meeting, where Nigeria's Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin, handed over the chair of the regional Defence Chiefs of Staff to his Ivorian counterpart, Major General Bakayoko, whose country currently chairs the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government.

Air Marshal Petinrin expressed confidence in the ability of his successor to continue the work of securing the region. The regional defence chiefs were later granted an audience by the Ivorian leader and chairman of the ECOWAS Authority, President Alassane Ouattara.

Read the original article on Ecowas.

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