ECOWAS Appoints Former President Jonathan Special Envoy To Mali

The Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS,  has appointed former President, Goodluck Jonathan as a special envoy to lead the sub-regional body’s mediation mission in Mali.

In a statement made available by his media aide Ikechukwu Eze, he said Jonathan’s appointment was communicated to him in a letter signed by the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Jean-Claude Kassi Brou.

In the letter ECOWAS president explained the reason why the body decided to appoint Jonathan for such an enormous task.

 
He said, “Given your position as the former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the great role and contributions your tenure offered to the maintenance of peace, security and stability in our region, I have the honour, in consultation with the Chair of the Authority, H.E. Issoufou Mahamadou, President of the Republic of Niger, to communicate to you, the decision to appoint you as ECOWAS Special Envoy for the sociopolitical crisis in Mali”.

Eze explained that As a special envoy, the former President is expected to facilitate dialogue “with all principal stakeholders in Mali, including President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, opposition leaders, civil society as well as religious organisations, towards resolving the worsening socio-political situation in the West African country.”

Jonathan who is scheduled to depart Bamako, the Malian capital on Wednesday pledged his committment to do his best to ensure that the mission achieves the desired result.
While also thanking President Muhammadu Buhari for the support of the Nigerian government, including providing an aircraft and other logistics needed to make the assignment successful.

Former President Jonathan, who had led peace missions to many crisis-ridden nations in the past, is expected to deploy his enormous goodwill within the continent to facilitate the process of restoring peace in the troubled nation.

Mali has been hit by protests, fuelled by the outcome of parliamentary elections in March and April, and pockets of insurgency across the country.