ECOWAS Summit - a new chair and a new member

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From Christina Golubski at Brookings:
Last weekend, in Monrovia, Liberia, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) held its 51st summit. During the summit, Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe was elected to serve as the chair of ECOWAS, succeeding Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson who served this past year.

One of the most important decisions that came out of the summit was to admit Morocco into the economic body, “because of [its] strong and multi-dimensional links of cooperation with West Africa.” Morocco applied to join ECOWAS in January after it rejoined the African Union. ECOWAS, in principle, approved the North African country’s application to join the West African body, despite its geographic location. However, leaders have stated that the details of the implications of Morocco’s membership must be worked out before its formal integration.
Other news: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ... pledged $1 billion to ECOWAS countries for green energy projects." and "the summit decided to extend the mandate of the ECOWAS mission in Guinea-Bissau for three months and the one in the Gambia for 12 months."

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