Abidjan-Cote d'Ivoire — An extra-ordinary meeting of the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council, comprising Ministers in charge of Foreign Affairs and Defence in Member States, will take place on Monday, 17th September 2012 in Abidjan to review the political and security situations in Mali and Guinea Bissau.

The meeting will consider memoranda presented by the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Desiré Kadré Ouédraogo, on the political and security situations in the two countries. Likewise, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Burkina Faso and the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Nigeria will brief the meeting on the mediation efforts in Mali and Guinea Bissau, respectively.

Similarly, the Chief of Defence Staff of Cote d'Ivoire who is also the Chairman of the Committee of the ECOWAS Chiefs of Defence Staff will brief the Council on the outcome of the two-day Committee meeting which ended on Saturday, 15th September 2012 in Abidjan.

The Defence Chiefs have held several meetings as part of ECOWAS efforts towards the resolution of the crises in Mali and Guinea Bissau following the coups d'état which interrupted constitutional rule in both countries, and the separatist rebellion in northern Mali.

The meeting of the Council comes in the wake of the formal request by the Government of Mali for ECOWAS military assistance to recover the occupied territory in the North of Mali and combat terrorism, as well as the unveiling by the Electoral Commission of Guinea Bissau of the chronogram for legislative and presidential elections in the country expected by April 2013.