Nigeria committed to ECOWAS harmony, says Buhari

• As special envoy, Goodluck Jonathan, briefs on Mali

President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed Nigeria’s commitment to promoting peace and harmony among countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region.

Buhari spoke at the State House, Abuja, yesterday, when he received updates from former Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, on the face-off between Mali and Cote d’Ivoire over detained Ivorian soldiers.

Jonathan is ECOWAS Special Envoy on the situation in Mali. About 49 Ivorian soldiers had been detained in Mali for ‘unlawful entry’, and only the three females in the team have been released, leaving 46.

The development is threatening a rupture in the relationship between the two countries. Cote d’Ivoire has condemned the act as ‘hostage taking’, saying it may take action, hence the need for intervention by ECOWAS leaders, as advocated by Jonathan.

Buhari pledged Nigeria’s commitment towards immediate resolution of the impasse, according to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.