Nigeria lauds efforts to achieve stability in G.Bisssau
ABUJA (AFP)
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday lauded international efforts to achieve lasting peace and political stability in crisis-wracked Guinea-Bissau, his office said.
Jonathan, who is also chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) told visiting Angolan Deputy Minister of External Relations Jorge Rebelo Chicote that the bloc will collaborate with the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) on the Guinea-Bissau issue.
The Nigerian leader said he was pleased by the CPLP’s willingness to work with Nigeria and ECOWAS to implement planned reforms to the military and security apparatus of the coup-prone small nation in west Africa in the shortest possible time.
Jonathan called for proper coordination of international efforts to address the situation in Guinea-Bissau so as to achieve the desired result.
Chicote was in Abuja to deliver a special message from Angolan President Eduardo Dos Santos, the current chairperson of the CPLP, to Jonathan.
The Angolan minister briefed Jonathan on the CPLP’s concern over the state of affairs in Guinea-Bissau and its desire to cooperate with ECOWAS in resolving the country’s political and security problems.
He said the CPLP greatly appreciated the actions already initiated by Nigeria and ECOWAS towards restoring normalcy to Guinea-Bissau, especially the plan to reform the country’s armed forces.
The troubled country has been plagued by coups since independence from Portugal in 1974.
In March 2009, president Joao Bernardo Vieira was killed by troops apparently in revenge for the assassination hours earlier of the armed forces chief, Batista Tagme Na Wai.