ECOWAS leaders to pay arrears owed Guinea Bissau

From: Benjamin Mensah, GNA Special Correspondent, Abuja.

Abuja, June 23, GNA - Leaders of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have decided to pay arrears owed to the Guinea Bissau armed forces as part of measures towards peace in the country.

In addition, they would contribute to the funding of the June 28 Presidential Elections to improve the security situation. The decisions were taken at the end of their 36th Ordinary Summit held in Abuja.

The day's summit reviewed political developments in La Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Niger, Togo and the Sahel Region. The leaders would provide $3.5 million to pay for the arrears and $350,000 towards the elections, according to a release from the ECOWAS Commission.

It said they agreed to provide logistic support towards the elections, and condemned the March 29 assassination of President Joao Bernado Vieira and killing of General Tagne Na Waie, Chief of Defence Staff, Mr Basiro Dabo, a Presidential Candidate and Mr Helder Proenca, former Minister for Defence.

The leaders expressed concern about the prevailing atmosphere of impunity behind the killings and urged the ECOWAS Commission and African Union, with the technical support of the United Nations to accelerate the establishment of an International Commission to investigate the killings.

"This will restore respect for justice and help create an atmosphere conducive for national reconciliation, "the release said. In a communiqu=E9 the leaders called on the Commission to establish a high level panel of eminent West African citizens to submit proposals for the reinforcement of integration on the economic and political spheres in the Sub-Region.

The summit discussed the international financial crisis and the economic performance of West African States and stressed the need to deepen regional integration to counter negative effects of the crisis and provide increased opportunities for regional growth. The leaders urged the Commission to pursue reforms that had been undertaken for macroeconomic convergence, speed up the establishment of a single monetary zone within ECOWAS to consolidate structural reforms, economic and financial stabilisation measures.

On the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), they welcomed progress made with the negotiations in trade in goods and development co-operation related to the EPA.

To ensure that both parties benefited from the EPA trade regime, and implementation of the EPA Development Programme, they directed ECOWAS and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) Commissions to accelerate the negotiation process, to ensure the establishment of a regional agreement that would initially cover trade in goods and development co-operation within the scope of EPA. They called on the European Union (EU) and its member states to demonstrate clear commitment to the financing of the EPA Development Programme.