ECOWAS

Overview
The 'Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; French: Communauté économique des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest, CEDEAO) 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 in order 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.

Concept
It was inspired by the forming of the EU.

Current members

 * 1) Benin
 * 2) Burkina Faso
 * 3) Cape Verde
 * 4) Gambia
 * 5) Ghana
 * 6) Guinea
 * 7) Guinea-Bissau
 * 8) Ivory Coast
 * 9) Liberia
 * 10) Mali
 * 11) Niger
 * 12) Nigeria
 * 13) Senegal
 * 14) Sierra Leone
 * 15) Togo

Former members
Mauritania, withdrew in December 2000.

Expatiation plans
There are none.

ECOWAS passport
The ECOWAS passport is a common passport document. Some, but not all member states of the Economic Community of West African States have implemented the common design.

Brown card system
The Brown card system is established between most of the members of the ECOWAS and is applicable in Western Africa.

Participants are: Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

The non-participating ECOWAS member is Cape Verde.

The Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) was a West African multilateral armed force established by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). ECOMOG was a formal arrangement for separate armies to work together. It was largely supported by personnel and resources of the Nigerian Armed Forces, with sub-battalion strength units contributed by other ECOWAS members — Guinea, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Liberia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and others.

ECOMOG
Nigeria and other ECOWAS members agreed a Protocol on Mutual Defence Assistance, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on 29 May 1981. Among other organs such as a Defence Committee and Council, it provided for the establishment of an Allied Armed Force of the Community (AAFC) as needed.

Anglophone ECOWAS members established ECOMOG in 1990 to intervene in the civil war in Liberia (1989–96).



Within Africa, ECOMOG represented the first credible attempt at a regional security initiative since the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) tried to established an 'Inter-African Force' to intervene in Chad in 1981.

A Nigerian ECOMOG soldier outside Monrovia, Liberia (1997)Anglophone members of ECOMOG acted because several Francophone ECOWAS members strongly opposed the deployment.[2]  The leaders of Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire supported Charles Taylor in his attempt to depose Samuel Doe. Unlike the typical UN mission of its day, ECOMOG's first deployment entailed fighting its way into a many-sided civil war, in an attempt to forcibly hold the warring factions apart.

Malian ECOMOG troops in front of Mali Air Force's MiG 21bis fighter aircraft at Bamako–Sénou Airport in Mali (1997)The first Force Commander was Ghanaian Lieutenant General Arnold Quainoo, but he was succeeded by an unbroken line of Nigerian officers. Major General Joshua Dogonyaro took over from Quainoo after Quainoo had left Monrovia for consultations with senior ECOWAS officials soon after the death of Samuel Doe at the hands of Prince Johnson'sIndependent National Patriotic Front of Liberia on 9 September 1990.[3]

 After some prompting from Taylor that the anglophone Nigerians were opposed to him, Senegalese troops were brought in with some financial support from the United States.

Planned single currency
The Eco is the proposed name for the common currency that the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) plans to introduce in the framework of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). After its introduction, the goal is to merge the new currency with the West African CFA franc (used by the French-speaking members of ECOWAS since 1945) at a later date. This will create a common currency for much of West Africa.

ECOWAS Rail
One of the goals of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is the development of an integrated railroad network.

Aims include the extension of railways in member countries, the interconnection of previously isolated railways and the standardisation of gauge, brakes, couplings, and other parameters.

The first line would connect the cities and ports of Lagos, Cotonou, Lomé and Accra and would allow the largest container ships to focus on a smaller number of large ports, while efficiently serving a larger hinterland. This line connects 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge and 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge systems, which would require four rail dual gauge, which can also provide standard gauge.

Other rail projects
The West Africa Regional Rail Integration is a proposal to connect up isolated railway networks in West Africa.

The Dakar-Port Sudan Railway is a 4,000 km long proposal which surfaced in 2008-2010 to link Dakar, Senegal with Port Sudan, Sudan by a transcontinental railway. It would pass through several countries along the way and would have branches to link capital cities not on the direct route.

It would go through the following countries:


 * 1) Senegal
 * 2) Mali
 * 3) Niger
 * 4) Chad
 * 5) Sudan

AfricaRail is a project to link the railway systems of Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Niger, Benin and Togo. These are all 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) gauge.

A future stage is proposed to link Mali, Senegal, which are also 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) gauge, and Nigeria and Ghana which are not.

NSA surveillance plot
Documents of Edward Snowden showed in December 2013 that British and American intelligence agencies surveillance targets with America's National Security Agency (NSA) included organisations 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.

Also see

 * 1) EU
 * 2) ASEAN
 * 3) Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
 * 4) COMECON
 * 5) Arab League
 * 6) OPEC
 * 7) Gulf Co-operation Council
 * 8) Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the CSCE)

Source

 * 1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_Community_of_West_African_States
 * 2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eco_(currency)
 * 3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECOWAS_rail
 * 4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AfricaRail
 * 5) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakar-Port_Sudan_Railway
 * 6) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Africa_Regional_Rail_Integration
 * 7) http://nppusa.org/blogs/government_achievements/archive/2007/07/12/ghana-leads-in-railway-network-to-link-ecowas.aspx
 * 8) http://geoinfo.uneca.org/africaninfrastructure/pdfs/railways/Lome-Niamey-Ouagadougou-Cotonou.pdf
 * 9) http://www.ecowas.int/
 * 10) http://www.internationaldemocracywatch.org/index.php/economic-community-of-west-african-states-
 * 11) https://www.wikiwand.com/en/ECOWAS_passport
 * 12) http://www.uneca.org/oria/pages/ecowas-economic-community-west-african-states-0
 * 13) https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Economic_Community_of_West_African_States
 * 14) http://www.au.int/en/recs/ecowas
 * 15) http://frontpageafricaonline.com/index.php/news/1861-bff-nudges-ecowas-states-on-pre-migration-preparedness