ECOWAS, Peace and Conflict Management in West Africa (original) (raw)
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For decades, countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea-Bissau were crippled by conflicts and civil strife in which violence and killings were prevalent. While violent conflicts are declining in the sub-region, recent, low intensity conflicts surging within notably stable countries such as Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal sends alarming signals of the possible resurgence of internal and regional violent conflicts. These conflicts are often linked to such factors as colonial legacies, poverty, violations of human right, bad governance, ethnic marginalization among others. ECOWAS as the regional institution established with the main objective of economic integration have been making efforts to develop a viable structure for deterring, mitigating and preventing a resurgence of violence in the sub-region. This paper therefor, posits that, ending violent conflicts and civil strife in the sub-region, requires the collaborative and collective efforts of the civil society, regional governments as well as the international community in identifying and understanding the causal causes of conflicts and also, developing concrete policy and programmes to prevent, manage and completely resolve these conflicts.
JANUS.NET, 2019
Conflict prevention has become an important doctrine within conflict management policies in international and regional organizations, especially since the end of the Cold War. There has been an evolution in the last three decades in the context of peace and security that has made conflict prevention gains relevance. In the current context, with the arrival of António Guterres to the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), conflict prevention doctrine could be encouraged, since he has pointed out that it should be the priority of the organization. Conflict prevention offers several advantages to face crisis contexts, since it works on avoiding violence situations escalating towards armed conflicts and helping to control the spread of security threats. By using preventive measures, the structural causes of conflicts can be dealt with in the most durable and efficient manner since the final goal of preventive actions is to transform actually or potentially violent conflict into non-violent processes of social and political change. While conflict prevention has gained greater importance, another trend has been promoted; security regionalization. Since the mid-nineties, there has been a transition in international peacekeeping missions, aimed to warrant peace and security all over the world that has focused on regional actors. This practice has been particularly welcomed in Africa. Both trends -conflict prevention and security regionalization-will be the object of study in this article, using as a practical scenario the region of West Africa. It is a geographic area where a series of cross-border threats are concentrated, hence becoming a zone of international concern. Moreover, the experience on conflict prevention of the regional organization, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is interesting. Indeed, ECOWAS has carried out a significant activity regarding preventive diplomacy and mediation in conflicts. Thus, the objectives of this research are: (1) to study the evolution of conflict prevention doctrine; (2) to assess the link between conflict prevention policies and security regionalization; and (3) to use the case of ECOWAS as an illustration, since the organization is at the forefront of conflict prevention iniciatives in the African continent. This is how they were classified 1 in the Final Report of the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflicts, entitled Preventing Deadly Conflict (Carnegie Corporation of New York, 1997) -a document of reference-, which distinguished between:
2014
Confronted with political crises, undemocratic governments, civil strife and droughts, African sub-regional organisations have experienced growing challenges in resolving these problems. The Economic Community of West Africa, although it is regarded as the most successful sub- regional grouping has also been confronted by new emerging threats to security as the West African group has been a haven of terrorist linked groups. It is in face of these challenges that this research evaluates the effectiveness of ECOWAS in resolving intra- state conflicts in West Africa with specific focus on Mali. The study sought to establish whether ECOWAS has successfully addressed the problem in Mali which began in January 2012. The study also had the objective of examining the institutional frameworks available in ECOWAS that governs its response to crisis in the region. The other objective was to explore measures which have been put in place by ECOWAS in resolving the Malian crisis. The study adopte...
Department of History and Diplomatic Studies, Taraba State University, Jalingo, Nigeria, 2024
The international community is increasingly using peacekeeping missions as their prime tool for containing conflicts across the globe. This study examined the significance of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to the advancement of African peace, appraising the role of the Economic Community of West Africa States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) in Liberia Crisis. The work employed quantitative method of data analysis to get the task done. The paper noted that ECOWAS recorded a number of monumental successes in resolving the crisis in Liberia. Nevertheless, this historic achievement was challenged by a number of threats, including compromising of ECOMOG's neutrality, diversity of cultures, financial difficulties, Nigeria's mistrustful intentions, poor peacekeeping role exemplary, and mission's controversial nature among others. The study concluded by recommending adequate and appropriate funding, implementing of ECOWAS conflict prevention framework, provision of clear guidelines and a plan of action, facilitation of strategic partnerships with the UN Peace Building Commission, and prioritising of training of the ECOMOG forces. Raising the value of education and professional development is also apposite.
ECOWAS AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION-COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE 2012 MALI AND GUINEA BISSAU CRISES
2019
The thrust of this research work examined Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS) conflict resolution in the 2012 Mali and Guinea Bissau crises. The study made efforts to trace the remote and immediate cause of the crisis that besieged Mali and Guinea Bissau, its effects on the socio-economic and political environment of these countries and efforts made by ECOWAS in restoring peace and democracy in these states and in West Africa. The main objective of the study is to analyse the action taken by ECOWAS under its Mechanism for the Prevention, Management, Resolution of Conflicts, Peacekeeping and Security in restoring constitutional order in Mali and Guinea Bissau. The study adopted the Neo-liberalism as its theoretical framework. The study made use of the primary and secondary data which involved unstructured interview and document analysis, while the qualitative descriptive analysis was employed to analyse data generated. One of the major findings of this study was the fact that although Guinea Bissau crisis did not come as a surprise to ECOWAS and the international community, Mali’s decline was a major setback in the democratic process of West Africa. However, ECOWAS as it has done in time past was the first to react to the crises, proffer solutions, began the peace process and reform of the defence sector and finally carried out fresh elections that restored constitutional order. The study concluded that conflicts in whatever form is unacceptable and a hindrance to peace and development and cannot be condoned. ECOWAS renewed commitment in pursuing democratic principles informed its decision to intervene in Mali and Guinea Bissau and its success is one to be commended. The study therefore recommends that ECOWAS should enforce its principles of democracy, rule of law, protect human rights, curb corruption, promote good governance amongst its member states and proffer mechanism by which violators of its principles would be systemically dealt with.
The purpose of this paper is to assess and evaluate the ECOWAS peacekeeping efforts in West Africa, specifically its successes and failures in Liberia, Sierrra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea and Guinea Bissau, using a simplified version of the evaluative framework created by Diehl and Druckman, to accommodate for the type of data that is available for these operations. The paper demonstrates that ECOWAS failed to restore peace and security in all its peacekeeping operations and that there is a lot that the sub-regional organization has to learn to deal effectively with its own conflicts. Nigeria provided most of the financial support and troops for the operations in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire, but decided to play a more limited role in the ECOWAS interventions in Guinea and Guinea-Bissau after being severely criticized for its hegemonic role by several ECOWAS members. ECOWAS might be able to play an important role in preserving the security of the region, but only after learning from its mistakes in past operations.
The ECOWAS parliament as a tool for conflict prevention in West Africa
2015
This thesis seeks to examine the effectiveness of the ECOWAS Parliament in conflict prevention in West Africa. From a holistic perspective, it also discusses the emergence of regional parliaments and specifically analyses their contribution to conflict prevention. This thesis is the first to assess how the ECOWAS Parliament attempts to prevent conflict in West Africa and how effective this has been. It presents the argument that, bodies such as the ECOWAS-P which are mandated as the legislative organs in a region otherwise noted for protracted conflicts play a crucial role in preventing conflict. The study employed participant observation (specifically in the ECOWAS-P), case study methods, elite interviews, parliamentary and archival research. The thesis greatest contribution lie in undertaking an institutionalist approach to conflict prevention and drawing from public administration developed and applied a performance management tool to help assess how the ECOWAs-P has succeeded at...
Analysis of ECOWAS Institutional Framework for Conflict Management
Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 2017
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has evolved conflict management and security framework through which it responds to the myriads of socio-political crisis in the sub-region. This paper assesses the ECOWAS mechanisms for conflict management vis-à-vis the challenges facing the region. It begins by looking at the nature of conflict in West Africa; and then the evolution of ECOWAS conflict management framework. Using content analysis, the paper argues that ECOWAS has evolved a comprehensive conflict management and security framework and has made significant achievements in conflict management in the West African sub-region. It however, recommends peacebuilding efforts that address poverty, human rights abuses and election fraud as well as more synergy and political will to handle religious extremism in the sub-region