Konare in Parliament

The visiting Malian President, Mr Alpha Oumar Konare yesterday asked the Parliament of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to be the springboard for the rapid integration of the Sub-Region.

Addressing Ghana's Parliament on the last day of his three-day visit, President Konare said; "you the representatives of the people have the enormous responsibility to translate the ideals of the people towards integration through participation in community (ECOWAS) projects".

The project should be the removal of barriers in the sub-region since nothing today could justify the border conflicts at the time when all the states were proclaiming integration.

He said the integration was irreversible and asked whether it would not be possible to make the border villages market places where interaction of ideas and cultures could bring the people closer together.

"The type of border I am thinking of is the one that will make them veritable zones of development, areas of peace and positions of privileges of co-operation and exchange of goodwill."

Mr Konare, who was accompanied by the Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama Said, to advance integration it was necessary that political dialogue and negotiations should take precedence over violence and war so that everybody could live in peace and have the right to security.

He said the integration of the sub-region would enhance the realisation of the African Union "and must, therefore, conceive the transition from the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to the African Union."

Mr Konare said the African Union should be made operational and that the transitional period should not be prolonged because if that happened it would jeopardise the achievements so far made.

He said, "Africa will not grow if we do not embrace peace, security and stability which are essential to economic development.

"If we have not done away with problems of refugees, malnutrition of children, child soldiers and military takeovers, internal and external conflicts then the unity we are working towards will be illusive."

He said Africans must have the confidence to make the continent develop in the new millennium.

Mr Freddie Blay, First Deputy Speaker, welcoming the President to the House recalled the Ghana-Guinea-Mali Union that was forged by the forerunners - President Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, President Sekou Toure of Guinea and President Modibo Keita of Mali.

He said though the union did not last long yet those aspirations provided the impetus for the establishment of the ECOWAS.

Mr Blay said the House was particularly happy that President Konare had called on ECOWAS states to discard the Anglophone and Francophone divide which remained to some extent a barrier to the effective integration of the sub-region.

He said; "Ghana's Parliament is convinced that the historic visit of Mr Konare will go a long way to strengthen the already cordial relationship between us."

He said Parliament in collaboration with Ghana's President John Agyekum Kufuor and the government were committed to the process of regional integration at all levels.