SWAC Special Representative Mr Somda meets with President of Togo, H.E. Gnassingbé

Mr T. Jean de Dieu Somda, Special Representative of the SWAC President, went to Togo from 15 to 17 October where he met H.E. Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, President of the Republic of Togo, and Mr. Dama Dramani, President of the National Assembly. Due to the uncertainties surrounding the Ebola outbreak, they met to discuss the relocation of the next Sahel of West Africa Week (SWAW) to Brussels.

In a message from the President of the Club François-Xavier de Donnea, he emphasised that whilst being aware that the Ebola epidemic does not affect Togo and that the government has put in place a remarkable monitoring and response system, it is nevertheless likely that the peak of the crisis will occur between late November and early December. The epidemic could well affect other countries in the region whose citizens could, as is already the case in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, see their mobility being compromised. Moreover, a growing number of international organisations are limiting the missions of their employees in the region.

This all makes for a very uncertain context in the organisation of important meetings that may suffer from a weak and unrepresentative number of participants.

President Faure has agreed to the proposal of relocating the December meetings to Brussels. He also invited the Food Crisis Prevention Network (RPCA) to hold its meeting in April 2015 in Lomé; this proposal has been accepted with enthusiasm.

The Brussels meetings are scheduled as follows:

• 16 December (afternoon): Meeting of the SWAC’s Strategy and Policy Group (SPG) 
• 17-18 December: 30^th Annual meeting of the Food Crisis Prevention Network (RPCA)
• 19 December (morning): Official launch of the SWAC publication "Atlas of the Sahara-Sahel: Geography, Economics and Security"

SWAC Special Representative T. Jean de Dieu Somda meets with President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé

‌