President arrives from summit

President John Agyekum Kufuor returned home on Saturday from Yamousoukro, Cote d'Ivoire after attending a one-day ECOWAS summit on the way forward for the NEPAD Initiative.

He was accompanied by the Foreign Minister, Mr. Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, Major Courage Quarshigah, Minister of Food and Agriculture and Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, Minister of Economic Planning and Regional Integration and Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Executive Secretary of ECOWAS.

President Kufuor was met on arrival by the Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama and the Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs, Mr. Jake Obetsebi Lamptey. In an interview with newsmen later, the Foreign Minister said the Leaders reaffirmed their commitments to the NEPAD Initiative and pledged to accelerate the resource mobilisation needed for the initiative.

They also recognised and declared their support for the use of the various regional groupings as the building blocks for the advancement of the NEPAD. Mr. Owusu-Agyeman said the summit agreed to use the ECOWAS as the final regional entity charged with the implementation and advancement of the NEPAD, and in this regard, urged the UEMOA and ECOWAS to harmonise their activities in its implementation.

The Foreign Minister said, it was decided that the media should be invited to the technical meetings of the ECOWAS on the NEPAD so that they could disseminate information to the people of the Sub-Region of the programme and its facilitation. The Mediation and Security Council also met and discussed the political situation in Liberia and passed a resolution calling for the immediate cessation of hostilities and the commencement of a peace process.

The ministerial meeting, which preceded the summit also recommended a facilitator to be chosen to add momentum to the proposed peace talks and bring the LURD and the Liberian government together. The meeting said action should be taken to ensure that women and children, who are the most vulnerable during such wars not to suffer, adding that already there are 22,000 Liberian refugees in Ghana as a result of such hostilities.

The Minister said the chairman of the committee empowered President Wade and the Executive Secretary of ECOWAS to appeal to the international community, especially the UN and G-8 to assist in the process of bringing peace in Liberia because it engulfs its neighbour, Sierra Leone, which has just come out war.

He said President Kufuor took the opportunity to hold discussions with President Olusengu Obasanjo of Nigeria and President Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d'Ivoire on bilateral issues as well as trade. Dr. Chambas knowledged that Liberia used to be a "headache" for the sub-region until peace was restored but lamented that lately, events in that country call for an immediate attention.

He said the ECOWAS would not recognise any unconstitutional government in the sub-region and urged Liberians to go back to the peace table and restore calm before the next election in that country. The Summit was attended by seven heads of state and two Prime Ministers, whilst four countries were represented by their foreign ministers.