Liberian President George Weah called during a meeting of the West African Monetary Zone for the creation of a "special committee" to discuss with Presidents Ouattara and Macron to resolve disputes over the adoption of the ECOWAS common currency. ECO.

Liberian President George Manneh Weah (pictured) called on West African leaders to continue working in a "spirit of solidarity and African unity" to iron out "misunderstandings" related to the implementation of the ECOWAS single currency programme, ECO.

This was during a virtual conference of heads of state of the West African Monetary Zone (WZMA) enlarged to include Guinea, held on Tuesday, June 23. Convened by the leader of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio, who currently holds the presidency, this meeting aims to discuss the differences that have arisen following the decision of the countries of the WAEMU zone to unilaterally adopt the ECO as the official currency to replace the CFA franc, this year.

Speaking on this occasion, liberian President George Weah said the only way out of the "current impasse" is to promote an "informed and cordial dialogue" between the French- and English-speaking blocs. The leader suggested the creation of a "special committee" to discuss with President Alassane Ouattara of Côte d'Ivoire, who made the eco adoption statement on behalf of the French-speaking bloc.

The objective of this committee, according to George Weah, is to prevent the WAEMU from unilaterally adopting its version of the ECO, and thus gain some time to allow ECOWAS to continue discussions on the issue in order to "put eco back on track". This special committee should, according to the Liberian leader, also request an audience with the French President, Emmanuel Macron.

A proposal supported by the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, who also insisted on the need for disputes to be resolved as soon as possible. He nevertheless felt that the decision taken by the French-speaking ECOWAS bloc to switch to ECO should have been more inclusive.

For his part, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who on the same day brandished the threat of the break-up of ECOWAS through a series of tweets, urged his peers to "come together on this issue". He noted in passing the importance of ECO and the progress that had been made, including the adoption of an exchange rate regime.

This agenda of this meeting of the Heads of State of the WAMZ clearly shows an ECOWAS deeply divided on the issue of the ECO since the announcement by the WAEMU zone to adopt this currency to replace the very controversial CFA franc.