marcel alain de souza is the current president commission of ecowas.
who is the current president commission of ecowas?
marcel alain de souza
the economic community of west african states (ecowas) decided to intervene militarily in the gambian constitutional crisis that occurred as a result of gambian president yahya jammeh refusing to step down after losing the december 2016 presidential election, and set 19 january 2017 as the date the troops would move into the gambia if jammeh continued to refuse to step down. the operation was codenamed "operation restore democracy". ecowas forces were amassed around the borders of the gambia, and marcel alain de souza, the president of ecowas, said, "by land, sea and air, gambia is surrounded. a total of 7,000 men will participate in the mission to re-establish democracy in gambia." in contrast, the entire armed forces of the gambia numbered only about 2,500 troops.
ecowas military intervention in the gambia
during the early hours of the event, the foreign minister of ivory coast (the host country of ecowas) daniel kablan duncan said that the "information indicates to us that there is a coup underway. ecowas formally and rigorously condemns such an attempted coup d'etat," he added that "it's sad that after the example of senegal, where the elections finished so well, that we have, after mali, a new forceful intervention in guinea-bissau. what i can say at this moment is that...the situation won't be accepted by ecowas." ecowas commission president kadré désiré ouedraogo issued a statement that read: "the commission firmly denounces this latest incursion by the military into politics and unreservedly condemns the irresponsible act, which has once more demonstrated their penchant to maintain guinea-bissau as a failed state." ecowas later decided to send a contingent of military personnel in order to provide security. the delegation, which would also include civilians, would be led by guinean president alpha condé. ecowas also said the election runoff should go ahead. ecowas constitutes a contact group, chaired by nigeria and comprising delegations from benin, cape verde, gambia, guinea, senegal and togo, to coordinate its efforts at resolving the crisis. ecowas also had a standby force to fill a vacuum that could be left by the departing missang force, as well as considering international criminal court recommendations.
2012 guinea-bissau coup d'état