Accra, March. 18, GNA - The First Deputy Speaker, Mr Freddie Blay has called for collective responsibilities among all key players in sustaining peace in the West African sub-region.

He said there were pockets of conflicts all over the sub region such as chieftaincy disputes in Ghana, disturbing flashpoints in Cote d'Ivoire and the rich oil Delta Basin in Nigeria as well as the fragile situation in the Mano River basin, which were all issues of concern needing action.

Mr. Blay was speaking at the opening of a two-day workshop on an ECOWAS debriefing session in Accra to discuss the new ECOWAS structure and ECOWAS Parliament.

The meeting, organised by a Danish non-governmental organization, IBIS, is also aimed at developing a relationship between civil society groups and the ECOWAS parliament to attain human security. Mr Blay said peace, security and stability should not be seen as the absence of violent conflict and mayhem among communities. "We must also include food security, job security, security from want, poor health and injustice." He therefore called on civil society, the media, parliament and other key players to join forces in ensuring a society free for peace and development.

Dr Abdel-Fatau Musah, a Conflict Prevention Advisor at ECOWAS, touching on the new structure of ECOWAS, said the organisation was moving from an ECOWAS of States to an ECOWAS of People" with the citizens as the prime movers of development. He said natural resource governance, cross border initiative, youth empowerment, democracy and political governance, women, peace and security were some of the new key elements in a new framework of the regional body.

Dr Musah said youth empowerment and engagement in productive ventures were crucial in maintaining peace in the region because un-empowered youth were easy targets for recruitment into thuggery, banditry and violence.