West African leaders holds a key summit as a wave of coup hits the region struggling with poverty and long history of turbulence.

West African leaders will hold a key summit today as a wave of coup hits the region struggling with poverty and long history of turbulence. Emergency talks in the Ghanaian capital Accra came up after Burkina Faso on January 24 became the third member of the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to be overtaken by the military. Burkina Faso followed Mali, where a coup in September 2020 was followed by a second in May 2021, and Guinea, where elected president Alpha Conde was ousted last September.
Adding to the region’s turmoil was a gun attack on Tuesday on the president of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, creating fears that the years of efforts to bring West Africa towards stability and democracy are failing. Thursday’s one-day summit will also assess the outcome of the mission by ECOWAS to Burkina Faso.