ECOWAS Defence Chiefs to meet in Freetown

Accra, Dec. 8, GNA - ECOWAS Chiefs of Defence Staff will hold their last quarterly meeting for 2009 from December 9 - 11 in Freetown, Sierra Leone to consider issues relating to the structure of the ECOWAS Standby Force Main Brigade (ESF MB). Adoption of the structure will facilitate West Africa's preparation for complying with the 2010 African Union (AU) deadline for the operationalisation of the standby forces arrangement for Africa's Regional Economic Communities (RECs) under the AU security architecture. A statement issued by the ECOWAS Commission in Abuja and copied to GNA in Accra on Monday, said during the meeting, the Defence Chiefs would be briefed on the AU Rapid Deployment Capability (RDC) concept which was fine-tuned at a recent meeting of the RECs organised by the AU Commission in Abuja.

In addition, they would consider a presentation on the outcome of workshops on the reimbursement modalities for the 6,500-strong ECOWAS Standby Force as well as the civilian dimension in Peace Support Operations (PSOs). The statement said the defence chiefs would also consider issues surrounding the framework agreed by ECOWAS and Save the Children in Sweden on the promotion of child protection in the region. The Chiefs of Defence Staff would also consider a report on the establishment of the Committee of Chiefs of Security Services (CCSS). The CCSS held its inaugural meeting in November 2009 in Abuja, and was set up to boost on-going efforts to promote regional stability. The statement said they would be briefed by the Force Commanders of the United Nations Operations in Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI) and the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) - the two peacekeeping missions in West Africa - on developments in their areas. 7 Dec. 09