West African Presidents have selected Nigeria’s recently elected President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to oversee the Ecowas regional bloc for the next year, replacing Guinea-Bissau’s leader Umaro Sissoco Embalo.
Uttering at a summit in Bissau after being designated chairman of the Economic Community of West African States last weekend, Tinubu mentioned that democracy was “the best form of government,” despite being “very tough to manage”.
The newly elected Nigerian Prez counted, “We need it, to be an example to the rest of Africa and the world. We will not allow coup after coup in West Africa.”
Three Ecowas members – Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso – have undergone five putsches since 2020.
Omar Alieu Touray, president of the Ecowas commission, urged the ruling juntas in those countries to respect agreed-upon deadlines to hand over power to civilian rule.
“In the event of a failure to meet the transition deadlines, major sanctions could be imposed,” Touray said.
Nigeria’s Tinubu sworn in as president, bringing hopes of economic prosperity
- ECOWAS Top Priority Is Mali agenda
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his development arrives as the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) decided on Saturday to lift Mali’s suspension from the organisation, imposed in January 2022 over the military’s timeline for returning to civilian rule.
Ecowas had also imposed a range of measures against the military junta in Bamako, but lifted them in July 2022 after the council agreed to hold democratic elections by March 2024.
In the meantime, Touray also said Ecowas had set up a commission to explore security options in Mali as the UN winds down its decade-long MINUSMA peacekeeping mission there.
The commission reportedly has 90 days to contemplate and make proposals on the situation in the country.
Since 2012, the West African has been battling a jihadist insurgency that has since scatter to Burkina Faso and Niger.
Tinubu – who was sworn in as president of Africa’s largest economy in May – said Ecowas members would seek “inclusive” economic integration in the year ahead.
“We should serve a warning to exploiters that our people have suffered enough,” he mentioned on Sunday.
“I am with you — and Nigeria, we are back.”
© 2023 • Story By Edem Latsu Nukafu
Writer’s email: edemlatsu093@gmail.com
