Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara and his Ghanaian counterpart John Dramani Mahama call on Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to rejoin ECOWAS, after the three Sahel countries quit the West African economic bloc earlier this year. "I will offer myself as the bridge between ECOWAS and the three countries and see how we can work with them so that they not only remain within our sub-region but also do the transition to constitutional democracy," says Mahama at a joint press conference with Ouattara during a visit to the Ivorian economic capital, Abidjan. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES