Abuja, 10th September 2019. The Mediation and Security Council of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will be holding an Extraordinary Meeting in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on the 12th of September 2019 to deliberate on the growing threats of terrorism in the Region.

The Council will be meeting to reaffirm the determination of ECOWAS Member States to work collectively to prevent and more efficiently combat terrorism, strengthen cooperation and coordination and redefine priority areas for Member States.

Given the growing threat of terrorism in the region, the Heads of States and Government of ECOWAS and ECCAS (Economic Community of Central African States) conscious of the cross-border and trans-regional nature of the terrorism threat, convened a joint summit in Lomé on the 30th of July 2018.

“The Lomé Declaration on Peace, Security, Stability and the Fight Against terrorism and Violent Extremism” was adopted, after the meeting.

Subsequently, the Heads of State of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo met in Accra, Ghana where they discussed developments in the security situation in the Region. They adopted a number of decisions among which is the call for an Extraordinary Summit on Terrorism, which will hold in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on the 14th of September 2019.
The Mediation and Security Council is meeting in preparation of the Extraordinary Summit of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government on Terrorism.

As part of a multi-level preparatory process to involve all levels and sectors of the society, two meetings were held in Niamey, Niger. The Civilian Stakeholders meeting on Terrorism in the ECOWAS Region was the first, from the 26th to 27th August 2019. Then the meeting of the Chiefs of Defence Staff, Heads of Security and Intelligence Services followed on the 28th and 29th August 2019.