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Tag: Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

  • ECOWAS agree to create regional force against insurgency

    The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is planning a peacekeeping force to intervene against jihadism in its member states and in the event of coups.

    West Africa’s leaders on Sunday agreed to establish a regional peacekeeping force to intervene against jihadism and to help restore constitutional order in a region that has seen several coups over the last two years.

    During an annual summit in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, President of the ECOWAS commission, Omar Alieu Touray said leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have decided to act to “take care of our own security in the region”

    “The leaders are determined to establish a regional force that will intervene in the event of need, whether this is in the area of security, terrorism (or to) … restore constitutional order in member countries, ” a communique from the leaders said.

    Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso have been hit by military coups in the last two years.

    The three countries have been suspended from the decision-making bodies of ECOWAS.

    Many countries, including Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, and southwards to the Gulf of Guinea are also ridden with a wave of jihadism

    Their national militaries and security agencies have so far been unable to control the jihadist forces operating across borders, and have been cooperating with external actors such as the UN, France and Russia.

    The 15-member political and economic bloc is yet to provide more details on how the force would be constituted but added that the region’s defense chiefs would convene next month to chalk out how it would operate.

    On Sunday, the West African leaders also told Mali’s ruling junta to release, by the end of this month, 46 Ivory Coast troops it has held since July.

    Ivory Coast says the troops were sent to provide backup for the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA, and are being unfairly detained.

    If the soldiers were not released, ECOWAS leaders said they “reserve the right and they have taken the decision to take certain measures but they would appeal and call on the authorities of Mali to release the soldiers.”

    Source: News Central.com 

  • ‘Local politics was not part of my plans’ – Elvis Ankrah’s big breakthrough into politics

    Elvis Afriyie Ankrah had just finished reading a Master’s degree course in International Relations and was hoping that he would receive a callback from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to start his dream job with them.

    And as is the case for most young graduates, the urge to experience working in any environment that presented him with much more made his hopes even greater.

    But Elvis Ankrah said something that jolted his dream sideways and put that long-time dream on permanent hold.

    And it all started when he was approached by one of the stalwarts of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Ato Ahwoi, to take up an unusual job: a spokesperson for a presidential candidate.

    The job was for him to deputise as a spokesperson for the late former president of Ghana, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, who was by then campaigning to become Head of State.

    He explained to GhanaWeb TV’s Edward Smith Anamale that when that call came through, it was not one of the things on his mind.

    “I went to do my Masters in International Relations and when I came back, I was on the verge of… I’d actually gone to ECOWAS to put in an application for a job and I was expecting a response because I had spoken with Dr. Chambas and all that, and then Mr Ato Ahwoi called me and said he wanted me to be the deputy campaign spokesperson for Prof Mills’ presidential primaries.

    “It was a very difficult decision to make: go to ECOWAS, go and earn some good dollars because I studied international relations so that had been my interest; to work with an international agency: ECOWAS, AU or the United Nations, so local politics was not part of my plan,” he explained.

    Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, however, explained in the election Desk interview on GhanaWeb TV that after a while, he agreed to take on that job, also because of something profound that Ato Ahwoi said to him.

    “And he said, go and do this thing for us, and after several months, I eventually agreed because he told me something: ‘If you go to your ECOWAS or UN and after 15 years you come back to Ghana, don’t you know you’ll be a stranger, and your colleagues would have gone ahead of you? So, what will happen to all the experience you gathered as SRC president and NUGS.

    “So, that really got me thinking so I took up the challenge and so, myself, Ludwig and Rojo, we went round with Prof Mills around the whole Ghana. We went to almost every city, town, village – every nook and cranny. It was a very eye-opening experience and that is where I gathered a lot of data and network with the grassroots,” he explained.

    Source: Ghanaweb.com 

  • Ecowas ‘confident’ after meeting Burkina Faso leader

    A West African mission that went to assess Burkina Faso‘s situation following the coup left Ouagadougou “confident” despite gatherings by demonstrators who criticised its visit.

    The delegation on Tuesday met Capt Ibrahim Traoré, the military leader who on Friday overthrew Lt Col Paul-Henri Damiba, who himself came to power in a coup in January.

    They met at the Ouagadougou airport where dozens of demonstrators were calling for more Russian cooperation and chanting anti-France and anti-Ecowas slogans.

    Former Niger president Mahamadou Issoufou, who was part of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) delegation as a mediator, said they would stand by the Burkinabè people in the very difficult ordeal they were going through.

    Over the weekend he had said the country was “on the brink of collapse”.

    After initially opposing his removal from office, Lt Col Damiba agreed to resign on Sunday and left for Lomé, the capital of Togo.

    The coups have been triggered by worsening insecurity amid frequent jihadist attacks.

    Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been the target of regular attacks by armed groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

    Thousands have died in the attacks and some two million people have been displaced

    Source: BBCAfrica

  • Guinean junta suffers sanctions from West African bloc

    In response to the coup in Conakry last year, the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) has decided to impose sanctions on individuals in Guinea’s military government.

    The leaders from the bloc met in New York where they were attending the UN General Assembly.

    They agreed on “gradual sanctions” on a list of people linked to the Guinean junta who will be identified “very soon”, the AFP news agency reports.

    Guinean leaders say they need three years to return the country to democracy and they are unhappy with Ecowas’ demands for a faster transition.

    In a statement, the Guinean interim prime minister, Bernard Gomou, had earlier described the Ecowas chief and president of neighbouring Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, as a “puppet” and an “overexcited” man who had “forced his way in” to lead the regional organisation.

    Guinea was suspended from Ecowas following the coup in September last year.

  • Political stability key to promoting AfCFTA initiative – AfCFTA Secretary General

    Secretary General of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Mr Wamkele Mene, has stated that political stability on the African continent is the best way to promote private sector and multilateral investments as well as cross-border trade.

    Speaking to the media, Mr Mene said it was important for countries on the continent, especially those in the ECOWAS and East Africa Community (EAC), to ensure that changes in governments were constitutional and could support predictable policy environments for localizing the AfCFTA.

    He said the intra-continental trade was estimated to generate USD 3.4 trillion in Gross Domestic Products (GDP) and increase incomes by seven percent,

    It would also increase trade by up to USD 70 billion and lift more than 100 million people out of poverty by 2040.

    Most of the gains, however, would be generated by the manufacturing and services sector.

    Mr Mene pointed out that African governments needed to tap into local capital markets to help curb illicit financial flows outside the continent.

    He said AfCFTA had an objective of creating an integrated market through some core actions that would guide implementation.

    This, he indicated, was geared towards diversifications and the development of manufacturing and industrial value chains by member countries.

    Tariff reduction as well as removal of non-tariff barriers over time would also help a great deal, he noted.

    Also, the absorption of new technologies and the need to diversify manufactured goods to secure benefits from the AfCFTA depended on labour market factors such as productivity, healthcare conditions, mobility, innovation and duration.

    Mr. Mene said Regional Economic Community (REC) have been established to foster integration and form the bedrock for the implementation of the AfCFTA.

    Source: GNA