The situation in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea-Conakry, security and terrorism, and the economy are some of the topics that will dominate the 69th Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Summit this Sunday in Bissau.
On the agenda will also be the choice of a new presidency, which, according to the President of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoko Embalo, should be transferred to Nigeria.
Guinea-Bissau has been chairing ECOWAS since July 2022.
Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea Conakry were suspended by ECOWAS after successive military coups in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
In February, ECOWAS decided to maintain existing sanctions on the three countries and impose a travel ban on government members and other officials.
In these three countries, a return to constitutional order is theoretically expected in 2024 in Mali and Burkina Faso and in 2025 in Guinea-Conakry.
With regard to security and terrorism, the heads of the ECOWAS armed forces held two meetings, the last of which was in March 2023, to develop plans to establish a solid foundation for combating terrorist groups and activities and to change the order of constitutional law, which may include creating for this purpose special forces.
According to President Umaro Sissoko Embalo, the final decision on the creation of forces can be made already at this summit.
ECOWAS, currently headed by the Guinean Head of State, is made up of 15 countries, including, in addition to the Portuguese-speaking Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Conakry, Liberia , Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Togo.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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