President Weah off to Attend Extraordinary ECOWAS Summit
Monrovia, Liberia - President George Manneh Weah will on Friday, April 13, 2018 depart the country for Lome, Togo to attend a One-day Extraordinary Session of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The One-day Extraordinary Session will focus on the prevailing security and political situation in Guinea Bissau, which is reeling a long-running dispute between factions in the ruling Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC).
It can be recalled that the situation was triggered by the removal of the PAIGC Government then led by Mr. Dominigos Simoes Perisa in August 2015 by President Jose Mario Vaz and the subsequent removal of five successive governments.
On December 16, 2017, in the Final Communiqué during the 52nd Extraordinary Session, the ECOWAS Authority expressed its disappointment over the lack of progress in the peace process. ECOWAS Authority accepted a new roadmap presented by President Vaz for the implementation of the Conakry Agreement following the failure of stakeholders to make progress in the peace process.
This is the first ECOWAS Summit to be attended by President Weah since assuming office as President of the Republic of Liberia.
Travelling with the President are Hon. Emmanuel Shaw, Special Advisor to the President, Hon. B. Elias Shoniyin, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Naomi M. Gray, Assistant Minister for Afro-Asian Affairs, and Presidential Press Secretary, Hon. Sam Mannah.
Meanwhile, while the President is away, Hon. Nathaniel Farlo McGill, Minister of State for Presidential Affairs and Chief of Office Staff, will chair the Cabinet in consultation with the Vice President and via telephone conversation with the President.
The Liberian leader returns home on Saturday, April 14, 2018.
