By John Ikani
President Umaro Sissoco Mbalo of Guinea was on Sunday elected the new Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS).
He was elected at the 61st ECOWAS summit in Ghana’s capital Accra to succeed Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo, who served two terms.
“Happy to have been elected to the presidency of ECOWAS. It is a great honor and a sign of confidence in Guinea-Bissau,” Embalo tweeted. “Warm thanks to my peers. The challenges are important and we must give the best of us.”
Embalo who was recently re-elected survived a deadly coup attempt early this year, reportedly sponsored by drug barons in his country with strong international ties.
The new chairman, elected for a year, will have the challenge to restore constitutional rule in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, which are currently under military governments.
President Akufo-Addo hands over the position with the legacy of providing strong leadership that helped the region to manage the COVID-19 crisis.
Another feather in his cap was his push to maintain democratic ideals in the region, and his avowed resistance to the overthrow of constitutionally elected governments.
He is widely credited to rallying his counterparts to respect term-limits of their tenures.
President Akufo-Addo, who chaired his last meeting of the Authority, urged the bloc to adopt a coordinated approach to address the security concerns in the region.
He also impressed on his counterparts to commit to the implementation of the regional action plan against terrorism to curtail the threat of terrorism.
The President also urged member states to focus more on agriculture to enable the region attain food sufficiency amidst the rising prices of food occasioned by the Russian war in Ukraine.
He further entreated member states to stay vigilant against the COVID-19 pandemic because “the threat is still around, ” pointing out that region cannot afford another hit of the pandemic when it is presently contending with serious and destabilizing political and security threats.
Meanwhile, Gambia’s Omar Alieu Touray was also introduced as the new President of the ECOWAS Commission replacing Cote D’Ivoire’s Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, who has served a four-year mandate with an extension of three months and 10 days ending on July 10.
Brou will now assume office as Governor of the Central Bank of West African States, BCEAO on Monday.
Touray will head the seven-member Commission of a sub-region dogged by insecurity and political instability with three of the 15 member-states under military rule.
