(Lomé, 15th October 2016)

 ECOWAS Heads of State and Government held a meeting on 15 October 2016 in Lomé, Togo, chaired by H. E. Mrs. Ellen JOHNSON-SIRLEAF, President of the Republic of Liberia and current Chair of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.

The meeting was convened on the sidelines of the Extraordinary Summit of African Union Heads of State and Government on Maritime Security and Safety and Development in Africa.

During the meeting, ECOWAS Heads of State and Government took note of the conclusions of the Conakry mediation led by His Excellency  Prof. Alpha CONDE, President of the Republic of Guinea and ECOWAS  Mediator for the political crisis in Guinea Bissau from 11 to 14 October 2016. The Conakry deliberations are part of the implementation of the six-point roadmap adopted by ECOWAS and entitled “Agreement on the Resolution of the Political Crisis in Guinea Bissau” signed in Bissau on 10 September 2016.

The Highest Community Authorities commended His Excellency  Prof. Alpha CONDE, President of the Republic of Guinea and ECOWAS  Mediator, for his leadership and enlightened  conduct of the dialogue between the various political stakeholders of Guinea Bissau.

In addition, H. E. Mrs. Ellen JOHNSON-SIRLEAF, President of the Republic of Liberia and current Chair of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government informed her peers of the holding, on 17 December 2016 in Abuja, Nigeria, of the next Summit of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.

Furthermore, the ECOWAS Commission President, H. E. Marcel A.         de Souza, provided an update on the region’s candidatures to the upcoming elections of statutory appointees to the African Union Commission scheduled for January 2017 in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia.