The Speaker of the Economic Community of West African States’ Parliament, Hadja Mémounatou Ibrahima, has disclosed that the parliament will conduct field visits to understand and help settle disagreements between Benin and Niger.
The Speaker while disclosing this in her address on Monday, at the 2024 First Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja, said discussions on various issues led to the adoption by Parliament of what is known as the “Kano Declaration”.
She added that specifically, by means of this declaration, the Parliamentarians have resolved, among other things, to set up an Ad hoc mediation committee to initiate and maintain not only dialogue with the authorities of these different countries but also communication among Community various populations
She, therefore, encouraged the ECOWAS Commission to expedite the implementation of the joint defence strategy to fight against terrorism and violent extremism.
While speaking further, she gave assurance that, during its last two meetings, the Bureau of Parliament discussed these recommendations at length, and urgent actions are being taken in collaboration with other ECOWAS institutions to implement them.
“In accordance with the provisions of the Supplementary Act Relating to the Enhancement of its Powers, the ECOWAS Parliament has the following items on the agenda for its first ordinary session: Report by the President of the ECOWAS Commission on the Implementation of the Community Work Programme.
“Consideration of draft Community Acts; Presentation of country reports by national delegations. We look forward to the presentation of the report by the President of the ECOWAS Commission during this session.
“This report will be followed by interactive sessions with ECOWAS Commissioners on the implementation of the programme of each department,” she added.
She also disclosed that during the session, Parliament will consider and issue an opinion on the draft decision to set up a Special Tribunal for The Gambia and the adoption of the status of a special tribunal for The Gambia to prosecute serious human rights violations, international and national crimes committed on the territory of The Gambia between 22 July 1994 and 21 January 2017.
“In addition, each national delegation will present its report to the plenary, highlighting their country’s political, economic, social and security situations; the status of implementation of governance instruments and community protocols as well as issues relating to human rights and women’s and youth development.
“As you know, our session is taking place in a regional political atmosphere of elections in several of our member states.
“It’s worth noting that, this year, the West African region has witnessed several elections, such as the presidential election in Senegal and the legislative and regional elections in my country, Togo. Parliament took part in ECOWAS election observation missions in these two countries.”
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