An extra-ordinary summit of ECOWAS Heads of State
and Government will take place on Saturday, October 17 in Abuja, Nigeria, to discuss the political and security situations in Guinea and Niger.
The summit will specifically consider the recommendations of the International Contact Group on Guinea (ICG-G) which ended its day-long
meeting in Abuja on October 12, according to a statement received in Accra on Wednesday from the ECOWAS secretariat.
Among others, the Group called for the creation of a new transitional authority, through dialogue if possible, as well as the withdrawal of the ruling junta, the National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD), in
order to ensure a short and peaceful transition marked by the conduct of credible, free and fair elections in which those holding key executive
positions demonstrate total neutrality throughout the electoral process.
The Heads of State will also consider the report of the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council which met in Abuja on August 24, as well as the report of the findings of a four-member ad-hoc ministerial committee led by Nigeria and composed of Benin, Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone, which visited Niger shortly after the Council's deliberations in Abuja.
The committee was mandated to work with all political stakeholders in Niger, including the National Council for Dialogue, towards the restoration of dialogue and consensus which characterized the political environment
before the current constitutional crisis.
Guinea's political problems worsened late last month when soldiers shot and killed 157 civilians who were attending an opposition rally at the Conakry Sports Stadium.
Members of the Mediation and Security Council had regretted that the decision by President Mamadou Tandja of Niger to change the constitution that extended his term of office had made it difficult for the country's
democratic institutions and the Constitutional Court to play their roles as guarantors of the rule of law.
Scheduled to meet as often as necessary, at least once every two months, the ICG-G comprises the Community of Sahelo-Saharan States
(CEN-SAD), the European Union (EU), the Mano River Union (MRU), the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) and the United Nations, the current Chair of the
African Union Peace and Security Council, the current Chair of ECOWAS, as well as the African members and permanent members of the UN Security
Council.