THE Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, and the United Nations Office for West Africa and Sahel, UNOWAS, have reiterated their commitment to support the development of the institutional capacity of the Economic Community of Central African States, ECCAS, in order to mitigate peace and security challenges in both Communities.

At a three-day workshop on inter-regional exchange and good practice which ended on the September 13, in Abuja, Nigeria, Edward Singhatey, ECOWAS Commission’s vice-president,  stated that the gathering was yet another example of the growing international cooperation among relevant stakeholders in and around the region, in their collective resolve to collaborate and jointly confront the challenges that threaten our collective security.

Singhatey maintained that “convening this workshop is apt, given the increasing security challenges in many of our countries. The world, and indeed, Africa is living through major transformation like never before. Peace and development are under assault from a host of trials, which merit our closer attention.”

The highly interactive workshop of regional stakeholders presented an opportunity for the formulation of concrete strategies, the acquisition of good practices, knowledge and tools to enhance the development of ECCAS in the areas of Early warning, conflict prevention, mediation support, security cooperation, civil society engagement, elections, regional integration as well as and institutional reforms and resource mobilization.

Commending the positive actions taken to ensure peace, security, stability and development in the two sub-regions, the ECCAS Deputy Secretary-General-in- charge of the Department of Physical, Economic and Monetary Integration, Marie Chantal Mfoula lauded the ECOWAS Commission for its continuous support and cooperation.

She remarked that “the holding of this workshop is an eloquent testimony to the political will and commitment of the two high-level leaders of ECCAS and ECOWAS to see more concrete and more diversified cooperation between the two Regional Economic Communities.”

The workshop aligns with the decisions taken by the Secretary-General of ECCAS and the President of the ECOWAS Commission on the margins of the African Union summits in 15th July, 2016 and 28th January, 2017.

Also in attendance were representatives from United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa, UNOCA, West Africa Network for Peace building, WANEP, and the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP.

–   Sept.  18, 2017 @ 11:34 GMT /