ECOWAS-UNOWAS-COMMONWEALTH (INTERNATIONAL MORAL GUARANTORS) JOINT ASSESSMENT MISSION TO SIERRA LEONE ON THE ‘AGREEMENT FOR NATIONAL UNITY’

Pursuant to the directive of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government at its 68th Ordinary Session held on 14 December 2025, in Abuja, Nigeria, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, H.E. Omar Alieu Touray—in consultation with the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of UNOWAS, H.E. Leonardo Santos Simão—has deployed a Joint Follow-Up Mission of the International Moral Guarantors to Freetown, Sierra Leone. Scheduled for 13–17 April 2026, the Mission will assess the implementation status of the Agreement for National Unity between the Government and the Opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) party in October 2023 and the recommendations of the June 2024 Tripartite Committee’s Report on Electoral Systems Management, ensuring the country remain on the path of peace, stability and deepening of democratic and electoral processes.

Co-led by H.E. Fatoumata Jallow-Tambajang, former Vice President of the Republic of The Gambia and H.E. Barrie Freeman, the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), the Mission is supported by H.E Ambassador John Azumah, Resident Representative of the President of the ECOWAS Commission, and backstopped by technical experts from ECOWAS Commission, UNOWAS, Commonwealth Secretariat and the country’s Independent Commission for Peace and National Cohesion (ICPNC).

The Mission will hold consultations with the Government of Sierra Leone, the leadership of the All Peoples Congress (APC), other political parties, leaders of the national parliament and other government institutions, as well as with the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and the diplomatic community. The Mission will, among others, engage stakeholders on actions that have been, or are being taken, towards the implementation of the recommendations of the Tripartite Committee’s Report and other outstanding resolutions of the Agreement for National Unity. The Mission will pay a courtesy call on the President of the Republic, H.E. Retired Brigadier (Dr.) Julius Maada Bio.

As International Moral Guarantors of the Agreement for National Unity, the Mission would wish to urge all political actors, stakeholders, and the citizens to continue to uphold the unity, peace and stability of the country.