Ousman Sowe, the Director General (DG) of the country’s State Intelligence Service (SIS) has been unanimously re-nominated as the Chair of the 15 Regional Member Services of ECOWAS.
The SIS will Chair and coordinate the Committee of Intelligence and Security Services of Africa (CISSA) in the West Africa region 2022-23. DG Sowe was unreservedly re-nominated at a virtual zoom meeting held on February 25, 2022 hosted by the SIS.
The Gambia, since President Adama Barrow was elected as President in 2017 continues to gain more international recognition. Recently, The Gambia also assumed the position of President of the ECOWAS Commission. It is the first time in the history of the ECOWAS Commission that The Gambia will occupy the presidency.
DG SIS is unanimously endorsed and re-nominated by 13 of the 15 Member Intelligence Services of West Africa. The member service said they are reposing their confidence in the SIS DG to Chair because of his exemplary leadership and stewardship of CISSA West Africa from during the difficult times of 2019 to 2021.”
It could be recalled that the SIS was first selected as Chair of the Region in June 2019, when the service hosted a regional meeting in Banjul and again in 2021 when it again hosted a regional conference.
In his acceptance statement, SIS DG Sowe recommitted to work harder and get better as the challenges ahead are not going to be lesser, hence urging regional member Services of the Continental body to get better and stronger.
He further urged CISSA West Africa members to work closely and provide timely actionable Intelligence to the political leaders and decision makers. He also said he is willing to work with his colleagues and the ECOWAS Commission towards addressing the myriad of challenges confronting the sub region of West Africa.
“The SIS Gambia feels very encouraged by the re-nomination as Chair of the region which is yet another testimony to the trust and credibility that the SIS is registering not only inside the Gambia but also among regional services and beyond,” he posited
The SIS, he went on, thanked The Gambia government, the general public and indeed the West African region for the support, trust and encouragement whilst ensuring its commitment to deliver to the highest level in all its obligations in national, regional, continental and international peace and security affairs.
