ABUJA, Sept 24 (AFP) - West African regional grouping ECOWAS will hold an
emergency summit meeting in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, Saturday to
discuss the situation in Ivory Coast, an official statement said here
Tuesday.
   The extraordinary summit will examine "the situation prevailing in Ivory
Coast and contribute to the restoration of peace, stability and the return
of constitutional order in the country," the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS) said in the statement.
   The summit, will be preceded Friday by a meeting of the grouping's
foreign ministers, who are expected to make recommendations for heads of
state to approve at the summit.
   "Ivory Coast is undergoing a serious political crisis following the
attempted coup d'etat which has claimed many lives," said the statement.
   The Ivorian government has said 270 people died and 300 were wounded in
the coup attempt last Thursday.
   ECOWAS last Friday condemned the uprising in the Ivory Coast, which was
initially said to be an army mutiny.
   "Such unconstitutional conduct by unruly soldiers is not helpful to the
country, which is in the process of restoring its reputation as a bastion
of peace and stability in the sub-region," said the bloc in a statement.
   Ivory Coast is one of the founding members of 15-nation ECOWAS,
established in 1975 to promote the economic integration and stability of
the region.
   The grouping's other members are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde,
Gambia,  Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger,
Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

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