President John Mahama has dismissed reports suggesting that ECOWAS troops are to be sent into Nigeria to fight the Islamist Militant group, Boko Haram.
He said: “There was no discussion about putting troops from ECOWAS countries in Nigeria.”
President Mahama, who doubles as the ECOWAS chair clarified that “there were discussions about liaising strongly with the Nigerian government in order to give it any support that it needed to be able to eliminate the menace.”
ECOWAS leaders met last Friday in Accra to discuss possible ways to curtail the exploits of Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in the sub-region and on the African continent.
Speaking to pressmen right after the summit, President Mahama disclosed that “President Jonathan said everything possible will be done not only to retrieve the girls, but to eliminate the menace of Boko Haram, so everything possible could include everything, it could include military action, dialogue, negotiations and any other thing”
Meanwhile, President Mahama has referred to the recurrent clashes in Mali as a breach to the Ouagadougou Agreement.
He has therefore, called on all parties to return to the table to ensure all pronouncements made in the Ouagadougou treaty are adhered to.
“What has happened recently has been a breach to the Ouagadougou agreement, and so the initial response is to ensure there is a dialogue of both parties to come back to the Ouagadougou agreement and abide by it,” he said.
Mali’s government and the rebels signed the agreement last June that allowed the Malian military to return to Kidal for the first time since the last separatist rebellion was sparked in early 2012.
However, renewed fighting over who holds the town has left some 20 Malian soldiers dead.
According to President Mahama, “there are aspects of the agreement that related to disarmament of armed men, confinement of armed men and all, that had all not yet been implemented and so the president of Mali has selected a high representative Mr. Modibo Keita to be the interlocutor between the government and all the parties involved.
By: Benjamin Epton Owusu/citifmonline.com/Ghana