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West African military chiefs talk regional security
Monrovia (AFP) Nov 5, 2007 West African armed forces chiefs on Monday started three days of talks in Liberia's capital aimed at stepping up security in the region, the regional economic bloc said Monday. The military chiefs from the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) gathered to review "the security situation in West Africa and recommend means for improving peace and stability" in the unrest-prone region. The defence chiefs are examining progress in preparations for the creation of a 6,500-strong ECOWAS standby force, "to address such deficiencies as evident during its deployments in the 1990s in Liberia and Sierra Leone, and more recently, in Cote d'Ivoire," it said in a statement. ECOWAS troops deployed in three trouble spots in the region -- Liberia, Sierra Leone and most recently Ivory Coast -- under its armed wing known as ECOMOG. The countries' army chiefs agreed in June 2004 to create a permanent 6,500-strong ECOWAS force, including a 1,500-strong rapid reaction unit for troubleshooting missions. The standby brigade should be fully in place by 2010. Sierra Leone has offered to host the regional peacekeeping operations at its coastal military facility which once served as an important base for ECOMOG and the UN peacekeeping forces during that country's 10-year civil war which ended in 2001. An inland military depot is to be set up in Mali. Liberia's Deputy Defence Minister Dionysius Sebwe said this is the first time such a meeting takes place in the war-scarred country to which the regional bloc's peacekeepers briefly deployed during the 14-year civil war that ended in 2003. Based in Abuja, ECOWAS includes eight French-speaking nations -- Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo -- five English-speaking -- Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone -- and two Portuguese-speaking ones -- Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau. Related Links Africa News - Resources, Health, Food
Ethiopia denies preparing for Eritrea war
Addis Ababa (AFP) Nov 5, 2007Ethiopia on Monday dismissed Eritrean claims it was preparing for a new border war and accused its arch-enemy of seeking to divert attention from its internal woes. |
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