Abuja, December 5^th 2017. The 27^th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council (MSC) at the ambassadorial level, held at the ECOWAS Commission headquarters, Abuja, Nigeria on the 5^th of December 2017 to deliberate on the various memoranda, briefings and presentations relative to the state of affairs of the region.

The Council at the ambassadorial level is the body of West African Ambassadors accredited to ECOWAS who also coordinate strategic matters between the ECOWAS Commission and Member States regarding a harmonized regional situation report and interventions being made in the area of peace, security and human development.

Welcoming participants to the meeting, the ECOWAS Commission’s Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS) Mrs. Halima Ahmed gave a rundown of the security situation and general political health of the region reflecting among others, positive strides in the political, social and security spheres.

Her statement touched on the support of the ECOWAS Commission for the successful conduct of elections in some Member States in 2017, the challenges spurred by internal issues in some Member States and the state of readiness of the Commission to give pre and post electoral assistance in countries where elections are expected to hold in in 2018 and 2019.

She charged Council members to “Look at the documents presented critically and constructively so that we can fulfill our duties and responsibilities to our respective principals, most especially the government of our Member States”

Declaring the Meeting open, the chair of the Ambassadorial level MSC and Ambassador of the Togolese Republic to ECOWAS Mr. Lene Dimban also took the conferees through the high points of the ECOWAS mediation efforts in Member states both in the conduct of elections in Member States as well as the solidarity shown to enhance and foster human security in the spirit of good neighbourliness.

Stressing that the general conducive atmosphere under which the meeting was being conducted would rub off on the quality of decisions, he pleaded to engender a close working relationship with Member State and the ECOWAS Commission in order to achieve among others, the vision of an ECOWAS of the People

Leading the thematic presentations covering the political and security situation in the region, the ECOWAS Commission’s Director, Political Affairs Dr. Remi Ajibewa updated the Council on the state of affairs in the 15 ECOWAS Countries. The memorandum presented in this regard also had recommendations targeted at both national authorities and the ECOWAS Commission.

Also presented were memoranda on the status of the Maritime security in the region, as well as on the West African Police Information System (WAPIS) by the Director of the Directorate of Peace Keeping and Regional Security (DPKRS) Dr. Cyriaque Agnekethom and another on the regional conference on the security situation in the Sahel and West Africa.

Additionally, there were briefings on the National Early Warning Centres, the humanitarian situation in the region as well as the research findings by ECOWAS and Training Centres of Excellence (TCEs) on the herder-farmer conflicts in West Africa.

The Council also considered the draft agenda and Work Programme of the 39th Ministerial MSC in whose court their recommendations and decisions will first be laid.