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West Africa Goes on Discussing

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Xinhua News Agency
July 20, 2000

Chiefs of defense staff from West African states Thursday continued to discuss details for establishing a permanent regional intervention force at a three-day meeting opened Wednesday in the Ghanaian capital, Accra.

Lansana Kouyate, executive secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), announced that a standing rapid reaction force was to be set up to respond to conflicts in the region.

The defense chiefs are discussing financing of the new force and troop contributions. They are also expected to discuss sending more West African troops to join the United Nations contingent in Sierra Leone.

The Ghana News Agency Thursday quoted an official with the meeting as saying that the proposed force would be made up of army, navy, air forces and police units.

The force would retain the name of ECOMOG, which was established as a temporary force to intervene in Liberia's civil war in the early 1990s, and later in Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau.

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