ECOWAS: Julius Maada Bio takes the lead of the sub-regional organization
Assembled in Abuja for the 67th regular session of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), West African leaders elected Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio as the head of the organization for a one-year term.
cedeao @ abamako
He thus succeeds Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President of Nigeria, who completes two consecutive terms as the rotating president of ECOWAS. This election comes in a particularly delicate regional context, marked by profound political and security changes.
The new President of the Conference of Heads of State takes office at a time when Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have formalized their withdrawal from the organization, testing regional cohesion. Moreover, operationalizing the regional anti-terrorist force remains a major challenge, as several member states continue to face recurring jihadist attacks.
This Sierra Leone term also coincides with the 50th anniversary of ECOWAS, an organization founded in 1975 with the main mission of economic integration and the promotion of peace in the region.
With the election of Julius Maada Bio, the Conference of Heads of State intends to inject new dynamism into the priority projects of ECOWAS, particularly collective security, the strengthening of democratic governance and the revival of cooperation between member states.