A Seamless Transformation

Fri, Jul 5, 2013
By publisher
2 MIN READ

Africa

African-led International Support Mission in Mali transforms into the United Nations Mission on July 1

By Maureen Chigbo  |  Jul. 15, 2913 @ 01:00 GMT

THE African-led International Support Mission in Mali, AFISMA, on July 1, metamorphosed into the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission, MINUSMA, in that country. This brings to an end the months of processes and meetings geared towards the re-hating of the AFISMA. One of such last minute meetings involved the defence and security chiefs of ECOWAS troop contributing countries who convened in Bamako on June 30, with UN officials to discuss final modalities for the transformation of AFISMA.

Participants at the meeting
Participants at the meeting

The Bamako meeting ahead of AFISMA re-hating involved nine ECOWAS troop contributing nations including Ambassador Cheichk Toure, ECOWAS special representative in Mali, who is also deputy head of AFISMA, and Gen. Soumaila Bakayoko, the CCDS chairman and Cote d’Ivoire’s chief of defence staff.

The meeting was one of the key recommendations of the just-ended two-day 32nd ordinary session of ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff, CCDS, in Accra, Ghana, last month. The participants discussed personnel, equipment and logistics issues, financial reimbursement to the 6,237-strong AFISMA contributors towards ensuring a seamless transformation into a 12,600-strong MINUSMA before the planned national elections in Mali on July 28.

A cross-section of defence chiefs at the meeting
A cross-section of defence chiefs at the meeting

The CCDS meeting also recommended that the operational capacity of the ECOWAS Mission in Guinea Bissau, ECOMIB, should be strengthened, especially with the provision of adequate accommodation and beefing up ahead of the crucial national elections in that country by the end of the year. It also recommended that the ECOWAS-supported Defence and Security Sector Reform Programme, DSSRP, should also be implemented effectively.

The CCDS Accra meeting under the theme: “Enhancing ECOWAS Military Cooperation, For Peace, Stability and Development,” also discussed the proposed African Immediate Crisis Response Capacity, AICRC; Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea and regional counter-terrorism initiatives.

The meeting was opened by Ebenezer Okletey Terlabi, Ghana’s deputy defense minister, and addressed by Salamatu Hussaini Suleiman, ECOWAS commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security. Also in attendance were the Force Commanders of AFISMA and ECMIB and the Chief of Staff ECOWAS Standby Force, General Hassan Lai.

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