Malabo to host ECCAS-ECOWAS summit on Boko Haram

Member countries of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and those of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) shall hold an extraordinary security summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

Heads of State and Government of both regions shall meet at the Equato-Guinean capital on April 8, 2015 to map out strategies to combat Boko Haram.

This was one of the recommendations arrived at during the February 16, 2015 extraordinary summit of the ECCAS Council for Peace and Security of Central Africa (COPAX), which took place in Yaounde, Cameroon.

President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea and President Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo were assigned to contact ECOWAS for the organisation of a joint conference to tackle the Nigerian insurgency that has spilled over to neighbouring countries like Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Thus, the ECCAS special envoys met President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria and President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana and Chair of ECOWAS on February 23, 2015 to table the request.

An agreement to hold the ECCAS-ECOWAS summit was later reached on March 18, 2015 between President Idriss Itno Derby of Chad (current Chair of ECCAS) and the Ghanaian leader in Accra.

The April 8 event shall take place at the Sipopo International Conference Centre.