The 1990 Economic Community of West African States-Liberian Civil War Challenge

Author(s):  
M. Leann Brown
1993 ◽  
Vol 21 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 74-83
Author(s):  
S. Byron Tarr

This is a Liberian perspective on the unique initiative by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to resolve the Liberian conflict by organizing and deploying a Peace Monitoring Group in Liberia. It considers whether ECOWAS’ initiative can become a self-reliant security system that can end a civil war and institutionalize deterrence to subregional inter-state and internal conflicts. Can this self-generated, West African initiative set the stage for democratization? Is the initiative the start of an inter-African cooperative security system? Is the model of Nigerian leadership a harbinger of a regional hegemony in the making? Is the modest role of the USA constructive in resolving the conflict, in light of the fact that Liberia is a country with which the USA has had an historic relationship?


1995 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 569-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ademola Adeleke

TheEconomic Community of West African States (Ecowas) was established in May 1975 as an organisation to promote the development of the sub-region, and for 15 years did not deviate from this mandate. The 16 member-states – Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo – restricted their interactions to purely economic matters and ran shy of political issues confronting West Africa. This tradition changed in 1990 when Ecowas decided to intervene in the civil war which had broken out in Liberia. Its strategy to resolve the conflict followed two parallel but mutually interactive channels — making and enforcing peace. The former involved negotiations and arbitration; the latter the deployment in August 1990 of a 3,000 strong multinational force to supervise a cease-fire.


Author(s):  
Samuel Adu-Gyamfi

<p><span lang="EN-GB">The purpose of this commentary is to re-evaluate the historic and scientific facts on Ebola haemorrhagic fever and the role of the international community, especially Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in stemming the tide. It rehashes the argument on causes and prevention and draws attention of readers to emphasize the need for establishment of airport, sea port and border health posts with well drilled and efficient health professionals to be able to test, detect and quarantine persons with Ebola and treat them to prevent the spread of the disease from infected persons to primary or first contacts and secondary contacts. Significantly, countries in the West African sub-region are alarmed by the potential spread of the disease to countries that have hitherto been free of the disease. The potential global threat of the disease has been analysed and measures to be taken by countries within the West-African sub-region have been emphasized. This notwithstanding, does the declaration of countries as Ebola-free suggest the last of it?</span></p>


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