West African leaders hold emergency summit after spate of coups

Colonel Assimi Goita

Mali coup leader Colonel Assimi Goita. PHOTO | AFP

West African leaders hold a key summit on Thursday as a wave of coups buffet a region struggling with poverty and a long history of turbulence.

Emergency talks in the Ghanaian capital Accra were triggered 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.