A two-day ECOWAS Regional Consultation on conflict prevention in the Sene-Gambia Zone ended last Friday at the Kairaba Beach Hotel.
Speaking at the occasion, Ambassador Babou Ousman Jobe of The ECOWAS Council of the Wise stated that one of the objectives of the programme is to build the capacity of West African Civil Society coalitions in monitoring governance and human rights with the goal of complementing ongoing activities aimed at promoting regional Security and contributing to security sector transformation processes in West Africa.
The ambassador has called on civil society organisations to work closely with government to prevent conflicts within West Africa.
For his part, the director of Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Jibrin Ibrahima, said the reason for organising the meeting in Banjul is meant to reduce and manage the long standing conflicts in the Sene- Gambian Zone citing the Cassamance as one example.
He has assured participants that the recommendation of the meeting will be fully implemented at the level of ECOWAS
Mr. Moussa Dabal, ECOWAS Zone Bureau Coordinator, urged the civil society Organisations to properly co-ordinate the activities and involve the communities in preventing conflicts in West Africa. During the meeting various topics were covered ranging from the Cassamance conflict and the spillover effect into The Gambia, women in war and peace processes, the political economy of the Sene-Gambian Countries and early warning and early response mechanisms in the context of the new ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework.
