Accra, Nov. 28, - The Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has pledged his support for Prof
Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu for the post of Judge at the International Criminal Court
(ICC).
ECOWAS Commission President
Marcel de Souza, stated this in Abuja, Nigeria, while speaking with Edward
Mahama, Special Envoy of the President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
According to statement issued by
the Commission and made available to the Ghana News Agency, Commission
President de Souza promised to inform and request the support of ECOWAS Member
States and the African Union for the candidacy of Mrs Mensa-Bonsu for the post,
despite the late announcement of the candidacy.
He urged the Special Envoy of the
Ghanaian President to ask President Akufo-Addo to make a case for the Ghanaian
candidate before his African and European counterparts at the 5th African
Union-European Union Summit scheduled for 29 - 30 November 2017 in Abidjan,
Cote d’Ivoire.
“I will engage in necessary
advocacy and lobbying with ECOWAS Heads of State and Government to support your
candidacy, despite the fact that time is short because of the late announcement
of your candidacy, given that the next West African Heads of State Summit will
be held on December 16, 2017, he said.
Elections for ICC judges would be
held from December 4 to 14, 2017, at the 16th session of the Assembly of States
Parties, which would be held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York,
USA.
Apart from the Ghanaian Henrietta
Mensa-Bonsu, on list A, the Beninese Reine Alapini Gansou is also a candidate
for the post of judge at the ICC, but on list B.
Marcel de Souza expressed the
hope to see the two candidates from the Community appointed to the positions
which would be an honour to ECOWAS.
He hoped that in future, West
African citizens vying for positions would announce their candidacies well in
advance.
GNA
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