No.9/2007
ECOWAS Chairman, President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso, after consultation with his peers on the crisis in Guinea, has sent a high level delegation led by former Nigerian President, General (rtd.) Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, to Conakry on Saturday, 17th February 2007.
Other members of the delegation are President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas and the ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Col. Mahamane Toure.
Following the recent resumption of demonstrations by the population in protest against the nomination of a new Prime Minister and further killings of civilians, ECOWAS expressed regret about the deteriorating situation in Guinea.
President Compaore dispatched a ministerial fact-finding delegation to Guinea and is now sending a follow-up high level delegation in an effort to contain the crisis in the country located in the volatile Mano River Union area of West Africa.
ECOWAS is concerned that the situation in Guinea does not get out of hand resulting in further loss of life or spill over into neighbouring countries struggling to put their own recent civil wars behind them.
The ECOWAS Chairman has stated that ECOWAS will work to restore genuine dialogue between the Guinean authorities and other political stakeholders, and facilitate a faithful implementation of the 27th January 2007 Agreement which sought to end the crisis.