ECOWAS leaders will meet in an extraordinary session in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire 
on Saturday 19th January 2013, to agree additional measures for resolving the 
crisis in Mali following the renewed military offensive by Islamists occupying 
the north of the country.

The one-day summit of the Authority of Heads of State and Government, to which 
representatives of 20 non-ECOWAS Member States and organizations have also 
been invited, will discuss the evolving political situation in Mali and how 
the region can work with the international community for the resolution of the 
crisis within the context of the UN Security Council Resolution 2085 of 
December 2012.

The leaders will be briefed by the President of the ECOWAS Commission, His 
Excellency Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo on the political and security situation and 
by the regional mediators on the Mali crisis, Presidents Blaise Compaore of 
Burkina Faso and Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria.

They will also be updated on the status of preparations for the deployment of 
AFISMA, the African-led Mission in Mali, by the Chairman of the ECOWAS 
Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff, General Soumaila Bakayoko, while Cote 
d’Ivoire’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Honourable Charles Koffi Diby will 
present the outcome of the meeting of the Mediation and Security Council, 
taking place before the summit also in the Ivorian capital.

The summit is also expected to confirm the appointment of Nigeria’s Maj-
General Shehu Usman Abdulkadir as the Force Commander for AFISMA and Brig-
General Yaye Garba of Niger, as his deputy.

The regional leaders will also discuss the situation in Guinea Bissau where 
the ECOWAS Mission (ECOMIB) was deployed last year, as well as the ongoing 
defence and security sector reform programme in the country by ECOWAS and the 
international community.

The summit will be preceded on 18th January 2013 by the meeting of the 
Mediation and Security Council to be attended by ministers of foreign affairs 
and defence on the situations in Mali and Guinea Bissau, and whose 
recommendations will be considered by the regional leaders.