Visit by the Minister responsible for Cooperation, Mr. Henri de Raincourt, to Côte d'Ivoire on the occasion of the Summit of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government devoted to Mali and Guinea Bissau (Thursday, April 26, 2012)

PARIS, France, April 25, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The Minister responsible for Cooperation, Mr. Henri de Raincourt, has been invited by ECOWAS to participate as an observer in the Extraordinary Summit of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government which will take place in Abidjan on Thursday, April 26, 2012, and will be devoted to the situation in Guinea Bissau and Mali.

Mr. Henri de Raincourt will reaffirm France’s support for the process to resolve the crises in both countries.

Concerning Mali, the minister will underscore that France supports the unity and territorial integrity of the country, the full restoration of civil order and the need to achieve a lasting solution in the north of the country. He will again signal France’s support for the efforts of ECOWAS and the African Union, as well as Burkina Faso’s mediation efforts, to achieve this.

Regarding Guinea Bissau, the minister will reaffirm that France utterly condemned the coup d’état and cannot accept the stalemate situation. That’s why it encourages the African Union, ECOWAS and the CPLP (Community of Portuguese Language Countries) to work together in order to resolve the crisis, and supports the mediation efforts led by Guinea's President Alpha Condé.