President Nana Akufo-Addo, who chairs the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has said African leaders in the bloc must take issues regarding the recent coup in Guinea seriously and find a solution to the crisis.

In his opening remarks at the Extraordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government in Accra today, 16 September 2021, the Ghanaian leader said: “We are required to take informed decisions on these matters that would have long term consequences to the stability and the defence of democratic values of our region”.

“I count on you, Your Excellencies, to help proffer durable solutions to the crisis”, President Akufo-Addo said.

“I am confident that as in the past, we will rise to the occasion”, he said.

Eight presidents, one vice-president and three foreign affairs ministers are attending the ECOWAS extraordinary summit.

As part of the agenda for the meeting, ECOWAS Heads of State and Government will receive and give consideration to the report of the High-Level Mission to Republic of Guinea, which was led by the Chairperson of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers and Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional and Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey.

They will also be presented with an update on the transition in the Republic of Mali by the ECOWAS Mediator on Mali, Mr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The Heads of State would then deliberate on the reports and issue a final communiqué.

Apart from Ghana’s foreign affairs minister, the high-level four-member mission appointed by the ECOWAS Heads of State to assess the political situation in Guinea included Jean Claude Kassi Brou, President of the ECOWAS Commission; Alpha Barry, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation, African Integration and Burkinabè Abroad; and Robert Dussey, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and Togolese Abroad.