West African Summit To Discuss Guinea Coup Opens
ABUJA — Leaders from ECOWAS countries were Saturday locked in talks to resolve divisions over whether to suspend Guinea from the west African regional bloc over a coup in December.
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Foreign ministers from the Economic Community of West African States on Friday called for the nation, the world's leading exporter of bauxite, to be barred but pledged to help it return to democratic rule.
Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua, who currently holds the bloc's rotating chairmanship, stressed the importance of returning Guinea "to constitutional democracy as quickly as practicable.
"It is particularly necessary for all ECOWAS member states... to avoid creating the impression that we are working at cross purposes," Yar'Adua told the opening session of the summit.
"Indeed we should all be united in upholding the principles of democratic and constitutional transition in Africa," he said.
But one ECOWAS member state, Senegal, has already publicly endorsed the new regime.
Guinean soldiers led by 44-year-old Captain Moussa Dadis Camara staged a bloodless coup on December 23, hours after the death of long-time dictator Lansana Conte.
Conte, who was 74 when he died, had ruled Guinea with an iron fist for 24 years.
The heads of state are expected to reach a decision later Saturday, probably by consensus.
Leaders present at the talks include those from Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo, Ivory Coast and the newly elected president of Ghana.
Other countries were represented by high-level delegations, except for Guinea. But Kabine Komara, the prime minister appointed by the junta, is in Abuja and is expected to address the meeting.
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, who has stayed away from the Abuja talks, came out in support of the junta just three days after the coup.
In defiance of warnings from Nigeria, Wade travelled to Conakry this week and vowed to do everything in his power to avoid sanctions being imposed on Guinea.
The foreign ministers recommended that Guinea be suspended and that it remain so "until a constitutional order is restored."
They also recommended the junta turn itself into a national transition council comprising both military and civilians figures.
The council should lead dialogue in the country towards the restoration of constitutional order and hold elections this year.
An ECOWAS official, who asked not to be named, said that in 99 percent of cases the heads of state followed the recommendations made by their ministers.
The west African bloc, along with the African Union and the European Union would help set up the transitional body, assisting with financing and monitoring its progress, ECOWAS officials said.
The coup has been condemned across the world.
In December, the AU suspended Guinea from its ranks. On Tuesday, the United States suspended aid to Guinea, calling for a return to civilian rule and elections.
While barred from taking part in the summit, Kabine Komara, appointed prime minister by the junta, was invited to address the assembly.
"I told the assembly that Guinea wanted to be understood, that we wanted to receive all the support necessary for us to at last become a normal country," he told journalists after his speech.
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