UN General Assembly
1998

Security of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) when they met recently in Yamoussoukro, CÃ´te dâIvoire, and then in Banjul, Gambia, to lay the foundations of a mechanism for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts and for the maintenance of peace and security. The resulting text, reached by consensus at the level of experts, will soon be submitted for adoption by the conference of heads of State and Government scheduled for the end of October in Abuja. West Africa has plenty of experience in this connection, since in recent years it has had to mobilize twice in order to settle two bloody conflicts in Liberia, followed by Sierra Leone, and has thus acquired considerable resources under the flag of the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG). The success of the organization in carrying out such interventions prompted it to institutionalize ECOMOG as its armed mechanism, which is mainly preventive. This is a big step forward for ECOWAS, originally created as a specialized subregional organization with the goal of promoting economic cooperation and eventually the integration of its member States.