Togolese President Faure Gnassingbè has taken over from Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf to become the new chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
President Gnassingbè was elected to lead the regional body for the next 12 months as the 51st Ordinary Session of the Heads of ECOWAS in Monrovia, Liberia.
The West African leaders agreed to hold the next session in Lome, Togo in December 2017, inviting the King of Morocco and the Tunisia and Mauritania leaders to attend.
ECOWAS leaders gave the go ahead for the commission to examine the implications of accepting Morocco’s request to join in. Tunisia was granted the observer status and Mauritania was given the go ahead to submit request for readmission.
The Summit decided to extend the mandate of the ECOWAS mission in Guinea-Bissau (ECOMIB) for a period of three months and added 12 months for the ECOWAS mission in the Gambia (ECOMIG).
