Veep receives ECOWAS leaders

Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has received a number of ECOWAS leaders who are in Accra to attend the 47th Ordinary Session of the Authority of the Heads of State at the Jubilee Lounge of the Kotoka International Airport.

The meeting, which is scheduled for tomorrow May 19, 2015 is expected to discuss issues such as the election of a new Chairman for the Authority and the announcement of new dates for events to mark the 40th anniversary of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS).

President Ibrahim Boubakar Keita of Mali, who was the first to arrive, inspected a guard of honour mounted by the Ghana Navy contingent made up of men and officers, with a 21-gun salute booming at the background.

The same courtesies were offered to other leaders including Michel Kafoudo, President of the Transitional team of Burkina Faso and President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia.

Other ECOWAS leaders are expected to arrive in the country later in the evening and early tomorrow morning for the conference.

Vice President Kwesi Amissah­-Arthur, who led the government delegation, was accompanied by Mr Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo, President of the Commission of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) to welcome the dignitaries and later held discussions with leaders behind closed doors.

President John Mahama, who had chaired the Authority since March 2014, had his tenure extended last December during the 46th Ordinary Session of the Authority of the Heads of State.

President Mahama, as the chair of the ECOWAS, had overseen successful elections in Nigeria and Togo and also brokered a peace pact in Burkina Faso after protests broke out in Ouagadougou last year when Blaise Compoare amended the constitution to make him eligible to stand for another term.