ECOWAS Meets Liberia’s Armed Forces, Seeks Prevention Of ‘Tension’ After Presidential Election

The Directorate of Political Affairs (DPA) in the Department of Political Affairs, Peace, and Security of the ECOWAS Commission, is holding a 4-day experience-sharing engagement with the Armed Forces of Liberia ahead of its forthcoming general elections in October.

ECOWAS disclosed via its Facebook page on Thursday that the meeting is “part of ECOWAS’ measures to enhance its structural conflict prevention intervention in Liberia as elections period in our region are usually moments of heightened political tension and a potential source of conflict, especially if not properly managed.”

On October 10, about 2,471,617 registered voters among Liberia’s estimated population of 5.4 million, will be electing a new president, fifteen (15) Senators, and seventy-three (73) members of the House of Representatives.

ECOWAS said that engaging critical stakeholders in Liberia towards conducting a peaceful and violent-free electoral process, cannot be overemphasized.

The regional blocs’ meeting in the country had members of the armed forces and police in attendance.

The statement reads,” “The Experience-Sharing Engagement is designed to strengthen and complement the efforts of the Liberia National Police (LNP) and other sister security agencies involved in electoral securi-ty management to enhance security in the build-up and during the forthcoming historical elections in Liberia.

“The Engagement was declared opened by the Resident Representative of the President of the ECOWAS Commission in Liberia, H.E. Josephine Nkrumah, represented by Dr Nathaniel Walker, Political Advisor to the Resident Representative.

” The meeting also had in attendance Honoura-ble Tibli Dickson Snr, Deputy Minister of Defense (MOD), Mr Marvin M. Sarkor, Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Operations, Counsellor Massa Jallabah, Head of Program Divi-sion, Ministry of Justice, and Mr. Anders Arvidsson, Political Affairs Officer and Deputy Head of Mission, European Union Delegation to Liberia.

“The Experience-Sharing Engagement is being attended by strategic and operational level offic-ers from the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), Ministry of Defence (MOD), Liberia National Police (LNP), Office of the National Security Advisor, Liberia Immigration Services (LIS), Armed Forces of Li-beria (AFL), Liberia National Fire Services (LNFS), Liberia Female Law Enforcement Association, Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA), National Security Agency (NSA), and Executive Pro-tection Service (EPS).

“The Directorate of Political Affairs, through the Democracy and Good Governance Division, and in partnership with GIZ/EPSAO, is facilitating a series of activities in Liberia targeting different stakeholders includ-ing the Security Agencies, Media practitioners and Civil Society organizations in Liberia.

“The Experience-Sharing Engagement is being facilitated by staff of the Directorate of Political Affairs, ECOWAS Commission led by Mr Ebenezer Ofosu ASIEDU, Head of Democracy and Good Governance, supported by Mr. Al-Meyao Abass KWARASEY, Assistant Commissioner of Police, who also doubles as the Director of Operations & Commander of the Formed Police Unit (FPU) of the Ghana Police Service, and Mr. Augustine Momoh KAMARA, Chief Superintendent of Po-lice and Head of Elections Security Management of the Sierra Leone Police Force, as resource persons.”