SIERRA Leonean President, Ernest Bai Koroma, has said that the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) was waiting for the report of the delegation sent by the African Union (AU) to determine the next line of action to take against the government of Laurent Gbagbo in the protracted leadership crisis in Code d' Ivoire.
Koroma who arrived in Nigeria through the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos yesterday in a chartered Hawker Sidney (HS) 125 aircraft said there were many challenges the body had met in the bid to resolve the crisis, noting that ECOWAS recognises the outcome of the election that declared Allasaine Quattara as Head of State.
The Sierra Leonean leader was in the country for the launching of West African Insurance Companies Association and is expected to make a formal and public presentation of the company registration documentations and the headquarters agreement.
He was received by the Sierra Leone's Foreign Minister, Joseph Dauda and the country's High Commissioner to Nigeria, Henry Olufemi Macauley.
His words: "We have made it very clear that we recognise the outcome of the election that declared Allasaine Quattara as Head of State and we have been there on two occasions trying to mediate, but we still have challenges and the matter is being handled by the AU. We are waiting for the outcome of the delegation of the AU that has visited and I do hope that ECOWAS will be meeting to chart a way forward".
An election on November 28 was meant to end the debilitating crisis that has plagued the world's top cocoa grower since a 2002-2003 war split it in two, deterring investment and hampering growth. Instead, it has merely deepened it.
A power struggle between incumbent Gbagbo and rival Ouattara over who won the election has escalated into a dangerous standoff that has shut down business and disrupted social, political and economic activities .
African Union officials had been in Abidjan last month to meet with representatives of President Gbagbo and the United-Nations-certified winner of November's election, former Prime Minister Ouattara.
The officials were expected to draft a report for review by the leaders of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, South Africa, and Tanzania, who have been asked by the African Union to come up with a way to resolve Cote d'Ivoire's political crisis by the end of the month.
Koroma lauded the victory by a veteran opposition leader, Mahamadou Issoufou in Niger, stressing that the situation shows that Africa is moving forward.
He disclosed that he was in opposition when he won in 2007, describing it as a peaceful transition, further stating that "Africa is now making a head way".
According to him, "it shows that we are moving forward and democracy is gaining ground. I was also in the opposition when I won the election in Sierra Leone and it was a peaceful transition. It shows that Africa is now making a head way".
Source: 'AU, ECOWAS will resolve Ivoirien crisis' (http://ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=41806:au-ecowas-will-resolve-ivoirien-crisis&catid=1:national&Itemid=559)