The ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff (CCDS) will hold its 34th Ordinary Session 9-11 September 2014 in Accra, Ghana to review the general security situation in the region and determine adequate responses.
During the meeting under the theme “Strengthening ECOWAS Military Cooperation for Peace, Stability and Development,” the regional defence chiefs will among other issues, be briefed on the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa, which the regional Mediation and Security Council at its last meeting in March, characterized as a security threat to the region.
The deadly disease has claimed more than 1,900 lives from the more than 3,000 cases reported in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal.
The CCDS meeting will also receive an update on the security situation in Northern Nigeria, where the Boko Haram sect has been waging relentless deadly terrorist attacks and kidnappings.
In addition, the meeting will also consider the Status Report on the ECOWAS Standby Force as well as receive updates on the new Peace Support Operation Division, the operationalization of the Maritime Model Zone E, the Defence and Security Sector Reform Programme (DSSRP) in Guinea Bissau, and review the mandate of the ECOWAS Mission in that country (ECOMIB).
Also during the Accra meeting, Cote d’Ivoire, which has chaired the CCDS for the past two years, will formally handover the mantle of leadership to Ghana, the current Chair of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government.
Guinea Bissau hosted the last CCDS meeting in Bissau last February.
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