ECOWAS leaders have condemned recent coup attempts in Guinea-Bissau and Benin, describing the incidents as a threat to regional stability.
The declaration came at the 68th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, held at the Nigerian State House, with support from the African Union and the United Nations.
The regional body’s rapid deployment of its standby force to Benin to foil the December 7 coup attempt was widely praised as a demonstration of ECOWAS’s commitment to safeguarding democracy in West Africa.
Vice President Kashim Shettima represented Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the meeting, joined by Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio (ECOWAS Chair), Benin’s Foreign Affairs Minister, José Maria Neves (Cabo Verde), Côte d’Ivoire’s Vice President, and other regional leaders including Adama Barrow (The Gambia), John Mahama (Ghana), Bassirou Faye (Senegal), and Faure Gnassingbé (Togo). Guinea-Bissau and Guinea remain suspended and were not represented.
The summit comes against the backdrop of five turbulent years in the region, which saw coups in Mali (2020, 2021), Burkina Faso (2022), and Niger (2023). The latest incidents in Benin and Guinea-Bissau add to concerns about escalating instability in West Africa.
Ahead of the official opening, heads of state held a three-hour closed-door session to deliberate on pressing issues.
After the opening ceremony, leaders returned to closed discussions focusing on ECOWAS’s key agenda items, including the future of the community, the 2025 annual report, regional security, ongoing mediation efforts, and political transitions in Guinea.
