MONROVIA, LIBERIA-Member States of ECOWAS, including Liberia, are showcasing their cultural heritage at the ongoing West Africa Arts and Cultural Festival (ECOFEST) in Dakar, Senegal.

ECOFEST is an event dedicated to celebrating the richness and diversity of West African artistic and cultural heritage, material and intangible.

ELBC Reporter said,” The Prime Minister of Senegal, Ousmane Sonko, inaugurated the First Edition of ECOFEST, setting the stage for member states to display their cultural potentials”.

He opening ceremony was attended by ministers of member states, including ECOWAS Commissioner for Human Development and Affairs, Prof. Fatou Sow Saar, among others.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sonko has emphasized the need to protect cultural values to preserve the identity of Africans.

He highlighted the importance of culture in the economic and social development of the African continent.

Prime Minister Sonko also addressed cultural challenges such as the marginalization of local languages.

He underscores Senegal’s efforts to support cultural and creative industries, which already generate tens of billions of dollars and millions of jobs.

Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, at the same time, called for strengthening regional support through ECOWAS to perpetuate and develop the ECOFEST.

At the same time, the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government has begun engaging Guinea-Bissau’s military leadership to restore constitutional order in that country.

The move followed a mandate from an extraordinary session of the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council after a military takeover in Guinea-Bissau last week, following the country’s Presidential and Parliamentary Elections.

On Monday, December 1, 2025, the President of Sierra Leone and Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority, Julius Maada Bio, led a high-power ECOWAS mediation delegation to Guinea-Bissau to meet what that country’s military leadership.

A release said President Maada Bio was accompanied by the President of ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Omar Alieu Touray, and the Secretary General for West Africa and the Sahel Special Representative, Leonardo Simao, among others.

Meanwhile, the ECOWAS delegation said it has met with Guinea-Bissau military leader Maj. General Horta N’Tam and the Election Commission of Guinea-Bissau are to get first-hand information surrounding the military takeover.