General News of Friday, 7 November 2003

Source: GNA

Ghana to host ECOWAS Summit

Accra, Nov. 7, GNA - ECOWAS Chairman, President John Agyekum Kufuor would on Tuesday, November 11, host a one-day special summit of six Heads of State and Governments of ECOWAS to deliberate on the security situation in the Sub-Region.

The Summit would also discuss issues impeding the smooth implementation of the Marcousis and Accra Accords on the Cote d'Ivoire crisis and the Liberian crisis.

A statement issued on Friday and signed by Mr Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, Press Secretary to the President and Presidential Spokesman said leaders from, Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Niger were expected to attend.

The statement said over the past few weeks, there had been diplomatic efforts of consultation some by West African leaders to reinvigorate the peace process in Cote d'Ivoire. It said President Kufuor had held separate talks with key political figures in Cote d'Ivoire, including President Laurent Gbagbo, and Prime Minister Seydou Diarra.

Others were former Ivorian President Konan Bedie former Prime Minister, Allasane Quattara and Leader of the New Force, Guillaume Soro. The statement said President Kufuor and President Olusegun Obassanjo of Nigeria paid a day's visit recently to Abidjan to confer with President Gbagbo.