Africa: Fifteen countries forbid the burka

At the end of a summit in Abuja, capital of Nigeria, on security in their geographical space, the directors of the 15 countries of western Africa, all members of the organization, underlined in a press release published on the ECOWAS' website that this measure was taken as an "action for securing the populations". They asked each country to apply it while "taking into account its national realities." Implicitly alluding to the burka or full veil that they avoided naming, they indicated that "certain ways of dressing that make it impossible to identify the persons in question can be a considerable obstacle to preserving the security of persons and goods." In their final declaration, they reaffirmed their will to "pursue relentlessly" the fight against religious terrorism, while launching a call to the international community to "fight effectively against this phenomenon."