Emergency Meeting of Ecowas Defence Chiefs Ends in Abidjan

15 September 2012
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Economic Community of West African States (Abuja)
press release

Abidjan - Cote d'Ivoire — The ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff (CCDS) ended its two-day emergency meeting on 15th September 2012 in Abidjan, reiterating some of the proposals from its two extra-ordinary meetings of 14th and 24th August 2012 in Bamako and Abidjan, respectively, for the resolution of the crisis in Mali. These include soliciting the support of the governments of neighbouring Algeria and Mauritania to help facilitate the deployment of the ECOWAS Mission in Mali (MICEMA). The meeting was convened to review a request by the Government of Mali to ECOWAS soliciting assistance to recover the occupied territory in the North of Mali as well as combat terrorism.

The CCDS called on ECOWAS and the Malian government to embark on a massive media campaign to help create and sustain the awareness of the citizens of Mali, including the Armed Forces, on the deployment of the Mission. The Chiefs of Defence Staff called on the Malian authorities to intensify efforts at an inter-Malian dialogue with the rebels under a national mechanism of strategic management to ensure the resolution of the crisis. The Malian authorities were also urged to comply with UN Resolution 2056 on the total withdrawal of the National Council for the Recovery and Restoration of the State (CNDRE) from the political arena. Resolution 2056 also calls for the dissolution of the CNDRE and demands that its members refrain from any interference in political matters and in the work of the Transitional authorities.

At the opening on Friday, 14th September 2012, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Mrs. Salamatu Hussaini Suleiman, the Minister of Defence of Mali, Mr. Paul Koffi Koffi and the Chief of Defence Staff of Cote d'Ivoire, Lieutenant-General Soumaila Bakayoko, stressed the sensitivity and importance of the meeting. They expressed the need to meet the expectations of the Authority of Heads of State and Government by successfully addressing the threats and challenges to peace and security in the region, restoring the territorial integrity of Mali and helping to ensure a peaceful transition and return to the normal Constitutional rule in the country.

Read the original article on Ecowas.

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