The European Union welcomes the formation of a new government of broad consensus in Guinea by Prime Minister Lansana Kouyaté on 28 March, following intense consultations with all the political players, the trade unions and civil society. The mediation efforts of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), represented by the former Head of State of Nigeria, Mr Babangida, and Dr Ibn Chambas, President of the ECOWAS Commission, have once again played their part in bringing about progress towards overcoming the crisis.
The European Union encourages the new government to set about tackling the country's economic and social recovery and improving the human rights situation and the rule of law, and calls upon the dynamic forces in the country to join in the efforts to that end. It also asks the new government to bring fully to light the truth about the violence which has claimed many lives, so as to ensure that the guilty parties do not go unpunished.
The European Union would like to resume dialogue with the new government and is planning to dispatch to Guinea a follow-up mission to the consultations pursuant to Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement.
The Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.
* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.
