President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has condemned the terrorists attack in Mali by jihadist groups last week which left dozens of people dead.
Sixty-nine people, including a local mayor, lost their lives in the attack near the Malian tri-border with Burkina Faso and Niger on November 2, a statement from the government of Mali said.
At the opening of an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Extraordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government in Accra yesterday, President Akufo-Addo condemned the act and expressed the authority’s condolences to the family of the victims.
He also expressed condolences to the families of the 100 people who lost their lives in an explosion at Freetown, Sierra-Leone, on Saturday, November 6.
The purpose of the extraordinary session of the community, President Akufo-Addo said, was to advance deliberations on the political situation in Mali and Guinea.
Membership of the two countries in the bloc has been suspended as a result of the recent military takeover of their governments, in violations of ECOWAS Protocols on Democracy and Good Governance which provides the free and transparent ballot box as the only legitimate vehicle for assumption of political office in the community.
At the previous summit before yesterday’s, on September 16, President Akufo-Addo said the authority “took a series of decisions on the developments in the two countries charged me with the responsibility of conveying in person, these decisions to the military authorities in Mali and Guinea respectively.”
President Akufo-Addo, who is Chair of the ECOWAS Authority, on September 17, visited Conakry, the capital of Guinea with President of Ivory Coast, AlasanneOuattara, to convey the sentiments of the authority to the military rulers.
Accompanied by the Chair of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers, Shirley AyorkorBotwey, and the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude KassiBrou, the delegation also engaged the military leaders on the way forward.
The delegation visited the former President of Guinea, Prof. Alpha Conde, to satisfy itself with his living conditions and discuss with him, his future plans.
Subsequently, on October 17, 2021 President Akufo-Addo paid visit to Bamako, the Malian capital, with ECOWAS mediator for the Malian Crises, Goodluck Jonathan, MsAyorkorBotwey, and Mr KassiBrou, to convey decisions of authority and engaged leaders of the transitional government on the way forward.
Reports from the two meetings were tabled at the closed session of yesterday’s summit for deliberation by the ECOWAS Authority.
President Akufo-Addo said “since these visits, the military governments of both Mali and Guinea had sent delegations to me here in Accra to outline their plans for the future.”
The President added that the issues would be the main subjects to be discussed at the closed session of the summit.
BY YAW KYEI
