President Muhammadu Buhari today, November 28 departed Abuja to attend the fifth European Union-African Union (EU-AU) Summit in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, on November 28 and 29.
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PHOTOS: Tinubu Flies With Buhari To Abidjan
Tag: Abidjan
Buhari Departs Nigeria To Attend EU-AU Summit
President Muhammadu Buhari has departed Abuja to attend the fifth European Union-African Union (EU-AU) Summit in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, on November 28 and 29.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, has earlier released a statement on Monday saying Buhari would participate in working sessions during the summit with the theme: “Investing in the Youth for a Sustainable Development.”
READ ALSO: President Buhari To Attend EU-AU Summit
According to the statement, the president is also expected to meet with a number of African Heads of State and their European Union counterparts on the margins of the summit.
He would also attend the official luncheon to be hosted by the government of Cote d’Ivoire in honour of visiting Heads of State and Government and other delegations.
West African Ministers To Discuss Infrastructure Issues At Energy Summit
Ministers across West Africa are scheduled to provide perspectives to critical energy, finance and infrastructure issues at the Regional Energy Cooperation Summit 2017, holding in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, later in January.
In continuation of the Africa Energy Forum held in London in May 2016, West Africa’s head of utilities, regulators and industry operators from Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Liberia and Mali, will showcase investment opportunities and project pipelines in the coming event.
The Abidjan summit will afford all parties in the public and private sector, the opportunity to explore ownership for network assets, and hear directly from governments on the scale of the opportunities within the region’s integration strategy.
Although energy cooperation in West Africa is in progress, not so much has been achieved with the West Africa power poll, with its headquarters in Ghana.
Ivory Coast’s Former First Lady, Simone Gbagbo, Jailed
Ivory Coast’s former first lady, Simone Gbagbo, has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for her role in the violence that followed the 2010 elections.
Gbagbo had been charged with undermining state security.
Her husband, former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, is awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court.
More than 3,000 people died in the violence that followed the presidential poll after the ex-leader refused to accept defeat to Alassane Ouattara.
She and her husband were arrested in 2011 after troops stormed a bunker where the pair had taken refuge in the main city, Abidjan.
And it was in the same city where Gbagbo – once called the “Iron Lady” – faced trial. She was also accused of disturbing public order and organising armed gangs.
The court unanimously sentenced her to 20 years, twice as long as the prosecutors had asked for.
Her daughter, Marie Antoinette Singleton, told the BBC the sentence was unfair and a sign of “political justice”.
“Why would you want to double it? It’s not about justice, it’s about getting rid of political adversaries.”
“If we say that something wrong happened, it happened on both sides. Nobody looked into bringing all responsible parties to trial,” she said.
Simone Gbagbo’s lawyer said they would appeal.
Laurent Gbagbo, is facing four charges at the ICC in The Hague, including murder, rape and persecution.
The ICC had issued an arrest warrant for Simone Gbagbo too, but this was dismissed by the Ivorian government.
Ivory Coast Declares Three Days Of Mourning
Three days of mourning have been declared in Ivory Coast following a New Year’s Eve stampede that killed at least 61 people in Abidjan.
Hundreds of people leaving a fireworks event at a stadium in the Plateau district were jammed into a tiny street in the early hours of Tuesday: many were crushed; others suffocated.
President Alassane Ouattara described the deaths as a “National Tragedy”.
There are reports that a group of youths brandishing knives were snatching people’s mobile phones, other reports say security forces acted ineptly as they tried to control the many thousands walking through the City Centre – triggering the stampede.