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Senegal's President Bassirou Diomaye Faye was elected Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at the bloc's 69th Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government, held in Sierra Leone on 19 July 2026.
He succeeds Sierra Leone's President Julius Maada Bio and will chair the 15-member bloc for a one-year term.
Separately, Birame Diop, Senegal's former Minister of the Armed Forces, was elected President of the ECOWAS Commission for 2026-2030 — the first Senegalese national to lead the Commission since ECOWAS was founded in 1975.
Senegal is a West African nation on the Atlantic coast, bordered by Mauritania, Mali, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau, with Dakar as its capital.
Regional political and economic union of 15 West African states
A West African nation on the Atlantic coast, bordered by Mauritania (north), Mali (east), and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau (southeast/southwest). Capital: Dakar, located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula, Africa's westernmost point.
GS Paper II - International Relations (Regional organisations, Africa)
Economic Community of West African States — a 15-member regional bloc, headquartered in Abuja, Nigeria, founded 1975