Opening of the ECOWAS-ECCAS Joint Summit in Lomé

The opening of the summit was marked by the speeches of the Togolese President, Faure Gnassingbé, current President of ECOWAS, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, UN Special Representative of the UN and head of the Office for Africa of the West, by Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AU), and Gabonese President Ali Bongo, President-in-Office of ECCAS

Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé drew up a report Security Council in the ECOWAS region, underlining that the geographical and socio-economic proximity between ECOWAS and ECOWAS has caused them to share the same security challenges and suffer other illicit cross-border activities, including the trafficking of weapons, and money-laundering.

"It is therefore important to fight together for a secure environment through a common approach and a shared vision," he said, stressing that it is in this dynamic that the two organizations held their first joint summit on 25 June 2013 in Yaoundé (Cameroon) and which adopted the Declaration on Maritime Safety and Security in the Gulf of Guinea.

This Declaration allowed , according to its initiators, to launch the "Yaoundé Process" aimed at providing West and Central Africa with legal and operational frameworks, and an effective maritime security architecture, interconnected and coordinated by the Center. Regional Coordination Center based in Yaounde.

In the opinion of the Togolese Head of State, borders must not constitute an obstacle to security cooperation.

For Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Special Representative of the Sg of the UN, the two subregional organizations found in 2013 in Cameroon, a solution to maritime piracy and that this summit is long awaited because, bringing together 26 states, or the Africa peace and security report

"The United Nations stands ready to support the regional strategy for the stabilization of the Lake Chad Basin. I then insist on the need to fight together to overcome the scourge of terrorism, "said Mr. Chambas.

During the work, the countries of ECCAS-ECOWAS will focus primarily on the consideration of the situation the adoption of a declaration defining a common approach to peace, security, stability and the fight against terrorism and violent extremism in these two subregional spaces.

At a session in In camera, the leaders of Central Africa and West Africa will have to consider the report of the meeting of Ministers of ECCAS and ECOWAS Member States on peace, security, stability and the fight against terrorism. Against Terrorism and Violent Extremism

They will also have to adapt a Declaration, Security, Stability and the Fight against Terrorism and Violent Extremism in Central and West Africa.

TE / cat / APA