By Godfred Zina As the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) marks its 50th anniversary, the regional bloc finds itself at a pivotal moment. Despite...
By Dishant Shah Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have officially withdrawn from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a decision that reshapes the region’s...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The decision by three landlocked nations—Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger – to leave the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has...
On Saturday, Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama began a crucial three-day diplomatic mission, kicking off his tour in Bamako, Mali. The visit was marked by a...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In September 2021, a group of soldiers, led by a senior commander, seized power in Guinea. Their resistance was swift and overwhelming,...
By Dishant Shah In 1975, a bold vision brought together a group of West African nations – what if borders no longer hindered trade, travel, and...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In mid-2023, when a coup unfolded in Niger, neighboring Nigeria expressed deep concern over the unfolding situation. As the most populous country...
By Godfred Zina Despite ongoing diplomatic tensions in Africa, 17 heads of state, including Nigerian President and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Chair Bola...
West Africa has been in the news in recent times due to the security challenges it faces. In the north, east, and the eastern half of...
On 24th June 2012, Ghana lost a sitting president for the first time in its existence as a state. That same day, John Mahama, his deputy,...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Founded in the mid-1970s, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) aimed to advance regional integration, prioritizing economic collaboration over political...
By Mary Alorh Africa’s collective efforts are pivotal in achieving transformative policies like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which aims to streamline the free...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In 2011, amid the Arab Spring uprisings and the fall of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, one of the issues he reportedly raised...
By Danilo Desiderio The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission has officially launched an electronic Certificate of Origin (eCO) to streamline trade processes and...
By Danilo Desiderio All members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), including countries and customs territories, undergo periodic reviews of their trade policies. The frequency of...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In February, I engaged in a discussion about the evolving security landscape in West Africa with an American business executive based in...
By Danilo Desiderio A recent article from Burundi Eco outlines the status of creating a common currency in the East African Community (EAC). While regional central...
Liberian President Joseph Boakai has raised concerns over the increasing risk of proxy conflicts in West Africa, calling for measures to prevent the region from becoming...
By Godfred Zina Amid growing insecurity and instability in West Africa, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo unveiled key security strategies at the Second International Defense Exhibition and...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The Global Terrorism Index, a comprehensive study evaluating the impact of terrorism in 163 countries, covers about 99.7 percent of the world’s...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu During the last United Nations General Assembly session, the Guinean leader emphasized that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) should...
By Mary Alorh The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a regional organization in West Africa, has recently faced challenges due to the formation of...
By Gregory Simpkins For nearly half a century, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), established with the Treaty of Lagos in 1975, has endeavored...
By Godfred Zina On July 6, 2024, the heads of the military juntas from Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso gathered in Niamey for the first meeting...
Reuters | Niger’s junta has agreed to talks with Benin’s government, led by two former Benin presidents, to help restore relations after a coup in Niger...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Republic of Benin spearheaded Africa’s democratic wave, marking a pivotal shift towards civilian rule...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In 1980, Leopold Senghor, the founding president of Senegal, voluntarily stepped down from power and handed the reins to his prime minister....
By Fidel Amakye Owusu During the Cold War, the West held significant influence in West Africa, particularly through France, which had considerable control over many countries...
The East African Community (EAC) is witnessing a notable transformation in its trading patterns, marked by a growing emphasis on intra-African trade and a corresponding decline...
By Gregory Simpkins Following what has been described as intense negotiations, the U.S. government has agreed to withdraw its drone base from Niger. This base is...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In mid-2022, leaders from West Africa convened to lift economic and diplomatic sanctions imposed on Mali and Burkina Faso. These measures were...
By Gregory Simpkins When then-Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade congratulated his opponent on his victory and peacefully stepped down following the 2012 election, he was internationally praised...
By Paul Nantulya India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, termed Africa as India’s “sister continent,” in recognition of the long ties of affinity. Since the 1960s,...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu The military junta in Niger has declared an end to its military collaboration with the United States, denouncing the agreement that facilitated...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu A couple of weeks ago, during the ISOA Africa Conference in Nairobi, I posited the argument that while every coup is a...
AP | The sanctions will be lifted with immediate effect, the president of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, Omar Alieu Touray said...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu After the military coup in Niger on July 26, 2023, I was sought by various media platforms where I granted several interviews....
By Fidel Amakye Owusu When the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was established in May 1975, most of the leaders in West Africa were...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu In the 1950s, 60s and 70s, when many countries in West Africa faced political instability and concomitant economic decay, Liberia was one...
By Alan Hirsch President William Ruto of Kenya recently announced that Kenya’s borders would be open to visitors from the entirety of Africa, with no visas...
By Fidel Amakye Owusu Integration in Africa was one of the pressing topics in the 1950s and 1960s. At a point, disagreement over how to achieve...
By Gregory Simpkins Since the coup in Niger last month, sanctions have been levied against the new regime, borders have been closed and now that the...
Africa News | Niger’s military coup leaders announced the appointment of Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine as prime minister on Monday evening in a statement read out...
By Gregory Simpkins The coup virus in Africa continues to infect nations – even those that had seemed somewhat immune. Niger has been considered a beacon...
AFP | West African heads of state on Sunday chose Nigeria’s new President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to lead their regional bloc for the next year, replacing...
AFP | West African leaders agreed on Sunday to create a regional force to intervene against jihadism and in the event of coups, a senior official...
The recent wave of coups in West Africa reflects both a generational divide and a history of military involvement in African politics.
AFP | West African leaders hold a key summit on Thursday as a wave of coups buffet a region struggling with poverty and a long history...
AP | West African neighbor states on Friday suspended Burkina Faso in the aftermath of this week’s coup, making it the third nation in the regional...
AP | Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, the former president of Mali who took office in a landmark election held after a destabilizing coup only to be ousted...
West African community imposes additional sanctions on Mali
Reuters |West Africa’s main political and economic bloc imposed sanctions on Sunday against Mali’s transitional leaders after they informed the organization they would not be able...
West and Central Africa has seen 4 coups since last year
ECOWAS reaffirmed its opposition to any political changes by unconstitutional means and condemn in strongest terms, this coup.
Africa is the second least affected region of the world
Group of 15 West African countries have adopted a new road map to launch a single currency in 2027 after previous plans derailed by COVID-19 pandemic.
By Mohammed Momoh Capital markets in Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) region are working towards integration by the first quarter of 2016. The rationale...
West African states should re-open their borders and end flight bans put in place to halt the spread of Ebola, the Economic Community of West African...
Heads of State and government in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) plan to meet at an extraordinary summit in the Ghanaian capital, Accra...
Officials in Mali have revealed that many of Mali’s 147 parliamentary seats will be decided in a runoff next month following a first-round vote on Sunday...
Ask anyone with insider knowledge of Africa’s regional economic communities – and they will tell you that most of the issues keeping Africa apart are not...
(Reuters) – West African leaders on Thursday called for a regional military operation against al-Qaeda-linked rebels in north Mali to be transformed into a U.N. peacekeeping...
(AFP) – The emergency summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc has called on member states and Chad, which has pledged...
The Ghana Export Promotion Authority has rolled out a geographical mapping of companies to create a database for a national product trace-ability system, as the country...
(Reuters) – The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has called an extraordinary summit in Ivory Coast to discuss the military campaign against al-Qaeda linked...
The U.N. Security Council on Thursday authorized military action to wrest northern Mali from the control of al-Qaeda-linked extremists but demanded progress first on political reconciliation,...
Ghana President John Dramani Mahama. PHOTO/Issouf Sanogo/AFP AP – President John Dramani Mahama on Sunday was declared the winner of Ghana’s presidential election, despite widespread technical...
A West African summit on Sunday agreed on a military force of 3,300 troops with a one-year mandate to wrest control of northern Mali from Islamist...
West African nations on Friday plotted military force against “terrorist groups” in Islamist-occupied northern Mali as regional foreign and defence ministers met on a strategy to...
Military experts from Africa and the United Nations have drawn up a preliminary plan to recapture northern Mali from al-Qaeda-linked Islamists, African officials said on Tuesday....
High-level delegations from the West African bloc – the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the the United Nations met with Malian leaders Friday...
The U.N. Security Council on Friday unanimously approved a plan to back an African-led military force to help the Mali army oust Islamic militants who seized...
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which has been trying to broker an end to the political crisis in Mali will secretly deploy regional...
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said that regional troops would definitely intervene in Islamist-occupied northern Mali if negotiations with the extremists failed to yield a solution. “Diplomacy...
Mali was “preparing all options” to retake the Islamist-occupied north of the country and national consultations were being prepared to form a government of national unity,...
Senegal has withdrawn a commitment to contribute troops for a regional ECOWAS intervention in Mali. Senegal President Macky Sall communicated the decision during a visit to...
West Africa leaders meet in Burkina Faso on Saturday with civil leaders from Mali amid moves to create a government of national unity to tackle a...
The Economic Community of West African states (ECOWAS) is urging the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution that would authorize any military action it takes...
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) says it will investigate who is responsible for allowing Monday’s attack on Mali’s president to happen. ECOWAS, expressed...
West African mediators wrapped up their mission to Mali on Monday, after securing their choice for transition president by offering the leader of a March coup...
The first wave of troops from the West African regional bloc – the economic community of West African states (ECOWAS) have landed in Guinea-Bissau to try...
The coup leaders in Guinea-Bissau and west African mediators agreed on Friday that parliamentary speaker Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo will lead a transition government, ruling out the...
West African regional bloc – the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) announced Tuesday that it has imposed sanctions on Guinea-Bissau after talks in Gambia...
Gunfire echoed across Bamako on Tuesday as Mali government troops battled each other, with one side trying to oust soldiers who seized power in a coup...
Political parties met with Guinea-Bissau’s military junta Sunday in an attempt to reach a political solution days after soldiers arrested the prime minister in the tiny...
Mali Interim President.,Dioncounda Traore. PHOTO/File Mali’s new interim president took office Thursday, returning the country to civilian rule three weeks after mutinous soldiers overthrew the nation’s...
The body representing West African nations has imposed severe financial sanctions on Mali, after a 72-hour deadline elapsed and the soldiers that recently seized power failed...
Several thousand people took to the streets of Mali’s capital, Bamako, Wednesday in support of last week’s military takeover and a new constitution hastily written by...
Ghana’s Vice President John Dramani Mahama has urged leaders of the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) sub-region to demonstrate more commitment towards the integration...
A branch of Ecobank in Nairobi, Kenya. As the aircraft floats across the landscape of West Africa, one notices ruler-straight earth roads stretching as far as...