Economic Community of West African States

Economic Community of West African States Communauté économique des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest  (French) Comunidade Económica dos Estados da África Ocidental  (Portuguese)
Emblem
Headquarters	Abuja, Nigeria 9°2′35″N 7°31′32″E
Official languages	French English Portuguese
Membership	15 members Benin Burkina Faso Cape Verde Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Ivory Coast Liberia Mali Niger Nigeria Senegal Sierra Leone Togo
Leaders
• Chairman	Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
• President of the Commission	Marcel Alain de Souza
• Speaker of the Parliament	Moustapha Cissé Lô
Establishment
• Treaty of Lagos	28 May 1975
Area
• Total	5,112,903 km2 (1,974,103 sq mi) (7th)
Population
• 2013 estimate	340,000,000 (4th)
• Density	49.2/km2 (127.4/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)	2013 estimate
• Total	US$1,322 trillion (18th)
• Per capita	US$3,888
GDP (nominal)	estimate
• Total	$675 Billion 2013
• Per capita	$1,985
Currency	Escudo (CVE) Cedi (GHS) b Dalasi (GMD) b Franc (GNF) b Dollar (LRD) c Naira (NGN) b Leone (SLL) c W. African CFA franc (XOF)
Time zone	(UTC+0 to +1)
Website http://www.ecowas.int/
If considered as a single entity. To be replaced by the eco. Liberia and Sierra Leone have expressed an interest in joining the eco.

The Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS (French: Communauté économique des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest, CEDEAO; Portuguese: Comunidade Económica dos Estados da África Ocidental CEEAO) is a regional group of fifteen West African countries. Founded on 28 May 1975, with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos, its mission is to promote economic integration across the region.

Considered one of the pillars of the African Economic Community, the organization was founded to achieve "collective self-sufficiency" for its member states by creating a single large trading bloc through an economic and trading union. It also serves as a peacekeeping force in the region. The organization operates officially in three co-equal languages—French, English, and Portuguese.

The ECOWAS consists of two institutions to implement policies—the ECOWAS Commission and the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, formerly known as the Fund for Cooperation until it was renamed in 2001.

A few members of the organization have come and gone over the years. In 1976 Cape Verde joined ECOWAS, and in December 2000 Mauritania withdrew, having announced its intention to do so in December 1999.

Members

• Benin
• Burkina Faso
• Cape Verde
• Gambia
• Ghana
• Guinea
• Guinea-Bissau
• Ivory Coast
• Liberia
• Mali
• Niger
• Nigeria
• Senegal
• Sierra Leone
• Togo

Former members

• Mauritania, withdrew in December 2000

Structure

President of the Commissions

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Financial bodies AEC Pillars (Abuja Treaty) CEN-SAD COMESA EAC ECCAS/CEEAC CEMAC ECOWAS UEMOA WAMZ IGAD SADC SACU AMU/UMA African Central Bank African Monetary Fund African Investment Bank New Partnership for Africa's Development African Peer Review Mechanism
Decentralised bodies Agencies of the AU
Related topics Elections Enlargement Foreign relations
Other countries Atlas

President	Country	In office
Aboubakar Diaby Ouattara	Ivory Coast	January 1977–1985
Momodu Munu	Sierra Leone	1985–1989
Abass Bundu	Sierra Leone	1989–1993
Édouard Benjamin	Guinea	1993–1997
Lansana Kouyaté	Guinea	September 1997 – 31 January 2002
Mohammed Ibn Chambas	Ghana	1 February 2002 – 31 December 2007
Mohamed Ibn Chambas	Ghana	1 January 2007 – 18 February 2010
Victor Gbeho	Ghana	18 February 2010 – 1 March 2012
Kadré Désiré Ouedraogo	Burkina Faso	1 March 2012 – 4 June 2016
Marcel Alain de Souza	Benin	4 June 2016 – present

Chairmen

Chairman	Country	In office
Yakubu Gowon	Nigeria	28 May 1975 – 29 July 1975
Gnassingbé Eyadéma	Togo	29 July 1975 – 13 September 1977
Olusegun Obasanjo	Nigeria	13 September 1977 – 30 September 1979
Léopold Sédar Senghor	Senegal	30 September 1979 – 31 December 1980
Gnassingbé Eyadéma	Togo	1980–1981
Siaka Stevens	Sierra Leone	1981–1982
Mathieu Kérékou	Benin	1982–1983
Ahmed Sékou Touré	Guinea	1983–1984
Lansana Conté	Guinea	1984–1985
Muhammadu Buhari	Nigeria	1985 – 27 August 1985
Ibrahim Babangida	Nigeria	27 August 1985–1989
Dawda Jawara	Gambia	1989–1990
Blaise Compaoré	Burkina Faso	1990–1991
Dawda Jawara	Gambia	1991–1992
Abdou Diouf	Senegal	1992–1993
Nicéphore Soglo	Benin	1993–1994
Jerry Rawlings	Ghana	1994 – 27 July 1996
Sani Abacha	Nigeria	27 July 1996 – 8 June 1998
Abdulsalami Abubakar	Nigeria	9 June 1998–1999
Gnassingbé Eyadéma	Togo	1999 – 1999
Alpha Oumar Konaré	Mali	1999 – 21 December 2001
Abdoulaye Wade	Senegal	21 December 2001 – 31 January 2003
John Kufuor	Ghana	31 January 2003 – 19 January 2005
Mamadou Tandja	Niger	19 January 2005 – 19 January 2007
Blaise Compaoré	Burkina Faso	19 January 2007 – 19 December 2008
Umaru Musa Yar'Adua	Nigeria	19 December 2008 – 18 February 2010
Goodluck Jonathan	Nigeria	18 February 2010 – 17 February 2012
Alassane Ouattara	Ivory Coast	17 February 2012 – 17 February 2013
John Dramani Mahama	Ghana	17 February 2013 – 19 May 2015
Macky Sall	Senegal	19 May 2015 – 4 June 2016

Chairpersons

President	Country	In office
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf	Liberia	4 June 2016 – present

Regional security co-operation

See also: Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group

The ECOWAS nations assigned a non-aggression protocol in 1990 along with two earlier agreements in 1978 and 1981. They also signed a Protocol on Mutual Defence Assistance in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on 29 May 1981, that provided for the establishment of an Allied Armed Force of the Community.

Expanded ECOWAS Commission

For the third time since its inception in 1975, ECOWAS is undergoing institutional reforms. The first was when it revised its treaty on 24 July 1993; the second was in 2007 when the Secretariat was transformed into a Commission. As of July 2013, ECOWAS now has six new departments (Human Resources Management; Education, Science and Culture; Energy and Mines; Telecommunications and IT; Industry and Private Sector Promotion. Finance and Administration to Sierra Leone has been decoupled, to give the incoming Ghana Commissioner the new portfolio of Administration and Conferences)

Community Court of Justice

The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice was created by a protocol signed in 1991 and was later included in Article 6 of the Revised Treaty of the Community in 1993. However, the Court did not officially begin operations until the 1991 protocol came into effect on 5 November 1996. The jurisdiction of the court is outlined in Article 9 and Articles 76 of the Revised Treaty and allows rulings on disputes between states over interpretations of the Revised Treaty. It also provides the ECOWAS Council with advisory opinions on legal issues (Article 10). Like its companion courts the European Court of Human Rights and East African Court of Justice, it has jurisdiction to rule on fundamental human rights breaches.

Sporting and cultural exchange

ECOWAS nations organize a broad array of cultural and sports event under the auspices of the body, including the CEDEAO Cup in football, the 2012 ECOWAS Games and the Miss CEDEAO beauty pageant.

Economic integration

West African Economic and Monetary Union

See also: CFA franc and Economic and monetary union

  UEMOA

  WAMZ

  ECOWAS only (Cape Verde)

The West African Economic and Monetary Union (also known as UEMOA from its name in French, Union économique et monétaire ouest-africaine) is an organization of eight, mainly francophone West African states within the ECOWAS, that was dominated otherwise by anglophone heavyweights like Nigeria and Ghana. It was established to promote economic integration among countries that share the CFA franc as a common currency. UEMOA was created by a Treaty signed at Dakar, Senegal, on 10 January 1994, by the heads of state and governments of Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. On 2 May 1997, Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony, became the organization's eighth (and only non-Francophone) member state.

UEMOA is a customs union and currency union between the members of ECOWAS. Its objectives include the following:

• Greater economic competitiveness, through open markets, in addition to the rationalisation and harmonisation of the legal environment
• The convergence of macro-economic policies and indicators
• The creation of a common market
• The co-ordination of sectoral policies
• The harmonisation of fiscal policies

Among its achievements, the UEMOA has successfully implemented macro-economic convergence criteria and an effective surveillance mechanism. It has adopted a customs union and common external tariff and has combined indirect taxation regulations, in addition to initiating regional structural and sectoral policies. A September 2002 IMF survey cited the UEMOA as "the furthest along the path toward integration" of all the regional groupings in Africa.

ECOWAS and UEMOA have developed a common plan of action on trade liberalisation and macroeconomic policy convergence. The organizations have also agreed on common rules of origin to enhance trade, and ECOWAS has agreed to adopt UEMOA's customs declaration forms and compensation mechanisms.

Membership

ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development headquarters in Lome.

• Benin (Founding Member)
• Burkina Faso (Founding Member)
• Ivory Coast (Founding Member)
• Guinea-Bissau (Joined on 2 May 1997)
• Mali (Founding Member)
• Niger (Founding Member)
• Senegal (Founding Member)
• Togo (Founding Member)

West African Monetary Zone

See also: Eco (currency)

Formed in 2000, the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) is a group of six countries within ECOWAS that plan to introduce a common currency called the Eco. The six member states of WAMZ are Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria and Sierra Leone who founded the organization together in 2000 and Liberia who joined on 16 February 2010. Apart from Guinea, which is Francophone, they are all English speaking countries. Along with Mauritania, Guinea opted out of the CFA franc currency shared by all other former French colonies in West and Central Africa.

The WAMZ attempts to establish a strong stable currency to rival the CFA franc, whose exchange rate is tied to that of the Euro and is guaranteed by the French Treasury. The eventual goal is for the CFA franc and Eco to merge, giving all of West and Central Africa a single, stable currency. The launch of the new currency is being developed by the West African Monetary Institute based in Accra, Ghana.

Membership

• Gambia (Founding Member)
• Ghana (Founding Member)
• Guinea (Founding Member)
• Liberia (Joined on 16 February 2010)
• Nigeria (Founding Member)
• Sierra Leone (Founding Member)

Transport

Main article: ECOWAS rail

A Trans-ECOWAS project, established in 2007, plans to upgrade railways in this zone.

Controversies

NSA surveillance

Further information: Global surveillance disclosure

Documents leaked by Edward Snowden showed in December 2013 that British and American intelligence agencies surveillance targets with America's National Security Agency (NSA) included organizations such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the United Nations Development Programme, the UN's children's charity UNICEF and Médecins Sans Frontières.

See also

• Brown card system–motor insurance scheme of ECOWAS
• East African Community
• Economy of Africa
• Southern African Development Community (SADC)
• Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)
• Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS)

External links

• West-African Monetary Institute
• UEMOA Official Web Site (In French)
• WAEMU Treaty
• ECOWAS Official Web Site
• ECOWAS Commission Official Web Site: includes calendar of meetings.
• ECOWAS Parliament
• ECOWAS Revised Treaty
• ECOBANK—African banking group, present in thirty (30) countries on the African continent plus France in Europe. ECOBANK's Initial Public Offer of eight million plus shares in Accra, Ghana in May 2006 was oversubscribed. The listing of this IPO, landed ECOBANK on the Ghana Stock Exchange. As of December 2009, ECOBANK stock is also listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange and on the Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM), the stock exchange of Francophone West African countries in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
• More About Ecobank
• PowerPoint presentation of ECOWAS, 2004
• Mbendi profile
• Security by proxy? The EU and (sub-)regional organisations: the case of ECOWAS, by Bastien Nivet, Occasional Paper No. 63, March 2006, European Union Institute for Security Studies
• More About the newly-expanded ECOWAS Commission
• More About an ECOWAS Commissioner
• ECOWAS document in World Bank's World Integrated Trade Solution *GPTAD database library