ECOWAS Seeks Cooperation From Transitional Regimes

Leaders of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) expressed concern about what they called the lack of cooperation the body’s mediators were receiving from the region’s three transitional governments – Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Mali. The three countries are led by military governments and in transition to democratic rule. At their summit in Guinea-Bissau this week, ECOWAS leaders urged the three countries to adhere to the agreed 24-month transition timetable. Faya Millimono, opposition leader of the Liberal Bloc Party in Guinea, says the military junta has assured the country the transition timetable is being respected. However, he tells VOA’s James Butty, political parties want to know the exact dates that a referendum and local and presidential elections would be held.