By Joyce Remi-Babayeju
The ECOWAS , the Federal Republic of Germany and other international partners on Friday 21, October launched an 11-month dialogue exercise aimed at fostering peace, security, and development ahead of Liberia elections.
The monthly national dialogues would center on carefully selected topics to be addressed by various international partners.
In a keynote address, H.E. Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Liberia, applauded the concept of the dialogue series as a pathway for consolidating peace in the country.
Kemayah pledged the unwavering support of the Government of Liberia to ensure the conduct of free, fair, transparent, peaceful, credible and inclusive elections while maintaining international standard and best practice.
H.E. Josephine Nkrumah, Resident Representative of the President of ECOWAS Commission in Liberia, reiterated the critical role ECOWAS continues to play in conflict prevention, peace building, and security through various stakeholder engagements, and the implementation of protocols on good governance and security.
“The overarching objective has been to foster political stability, socio-economic development and a realization of the dividends of democratic governance for the ECOWAS Community – that indeed is an ECOWAS of the people – a people centered approach to ECOWAS’s primary objectives.”
She commended the government and the people of Liberia for their cooperation with ECOWAS , adding that it was a true attestation to the strong bond built over a difficult phase of Liberia’s journey towards peace, security, and development.
“It is in the spirit of this bond that we will be sharing our joint experiences, reflections, and views from a regional perspective and contextualized within the Liberian socio-economic and political landscape.” Ambassador Nkrumah disclosed.
His Excellency Dr. Jakob Haselhuber, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany pointed out that as the Liberian Presidential and Parliamentary elections approaches friends of the Liberian people will follow with great interest the developments in the run-up to the elections.
Ambassador Haselhuber said, “we will stand by your side to further strengthen democracy and the rule of law in your beautiful country.”
Professor T. Debey Sayndee Director, Kofi Annan Institute for Conflict Transformation, University of Liberia expressed appreciation to ECOWAS and partners for the bold and laudable step taken by to engage on issues of peace, security, and development for Liberia.
