Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was created on May 28, 1975 in Lagos, Nigeria. ECOWAS was established to promote cooperation and integration in order to create an economic and monetary union for promoting economic growth and development in West Africa. ECOWAS has encountered many problems in the process of regionally integrating West Africa, including: political instability and lack of good governance that has plagued many member countries; the insufficient diversification of national economies; the absence of reliable infrastructure; and the multiplicity of organizations for regional integration with the same objectives. Several ECOWAS-member countries are currently part of the West African Monetary Union (UEMOA), a regional economic and monetary union which shares a common currency (the CFA Franc). The Francophone-countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo, with Guinea Bissau (Lusophone), comprise UEMOA.
In April 2002, the ECOWAS Council of Ministers (COM) approved a new procedure for the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (TLS). The TLS entitles the manufacturers of approved products to customs duty exemption within ECOWAS member states. The new procedure will consist of National Approval Committees, which are to be set up by member states, to handle the approval of products to be granted exemption under TLS. The decision by COM, abrogates the decision of 1988 granting the COM the monopoly for approving applications for such exemptions. It followed the harmonization of the ECOWAS procedure with that of the UEMOA, which already operates under this procedure.
ECOWAS is seeking international support to enable it train and equip the 15 battalions of troops pledged by member states as standby units for its peacekeeping force, ECOMOG. The training of the composite units will facilitate their effectiveness in peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance and other missions for which they could be deployed. ECOMOG forces have been deployed previously in civil conflicts in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Senegal announced in November 2002 that it was to boost its contribution to the ECOWAS military mission to Cote d’Ivoire and provide the Force Commander. Five countries -- Benin, Ghana, Niger, Senegal and Togo -- were contributing the 1,264 troops for the first phase of the mission. The force was set to take over from French troops who were monitoring the October 17, 2002 agreement for the cessation of hostilities under an agreement involving ECOWAS, France and the government of Cote d’Ivoire. Nigeria will also participate in the mission and it has pledged to provide medical and signal teams as its contribution. Talks continue with representatives of the Patriotic Movement for Cote d'Ivoire (MPCI), the rebel group which has taken control of several cities in the northern portion of the country.
