Ellen Johnson Sirleaf chairs ECOWAS

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has been elected the Chairperson of the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS).

She takes the position after Senegal’s President Macky Sall, who spent 14 months as head of the organisation.

The decision to elect the 77 year-old, Harvard-trained economist, was taken at the 49th Ordinary Session of Heads of State of the Regional bloc held in Dakar, Senegal and attended by a number of Presidents of the sub-regional bloc.

According to a statement by ECOWAS, West African leaders, besides the election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, decided to hold their next regular meeting in the Senegalese capital, at a date to be fixed after consultations.

The Summit also decided to extend for a year the mandate of the ECOWAS Mission in Guinea-Bissau (Ecomib).

The Heads of State and Government asked Ghana, Cape Verde, the Gambia, which are holding their general elections this year, to create a conducive climate for peaceful, free and transparent elections.

They also asked the ECOWAS Commission to deploy in these three states, technical pre-election missions to assess the state of preparations for the elections with all stakeholders.

He also urged the election observation missions to prepare the ground for the deployment of the ECOWAS observation missions.

Source: GNA