Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- Head of NEPAD office in Nigeria, Aluko Olokun, said Saturday one of the major challenges facing the continental initiative was getting African countries to fulfil their financial obligations. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- An ECOWAS MP from Gambia, Ahmed Bah, Saturday in Abuja, urged African leaders to lead by example if the objectives of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) under NEPAD are to be achieved. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- ECOWAS MPs Saturday held a specially session in Abuja on NEPAD, a day after the opening of the second session for 2003 of the Community parliament. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The ECOWAS Parliament opened its second ordinary session for 2003 in Nigeria's capital city of Abuja Friday, with the swearing in of the newly-elected MPs by Speaker Ali Nouhoum Diallo. Full text...

Bissau- Guinea Bissau (PANA) -- Ghana's President John Kufuor, who currently heads the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said here Thursday "there was no coup d'etat in Guinea Bissau". Full text...

Bissau- Guinea Bissau (PANA) -- Kumba Yala, the deposed president of Guinea Bissau, "has voluntarily accepted to step down in the interest of national unity, peace and stability," the Economic Community of West African States' ministerial mission visiting Guinea Bissau announced in a statement on Wednesday. Full text...

Bissau- Guinea-Bissau (PANA) -- Cape Verdean Foreign Minister, Fatima Veiga is currently in Bissau to take part in the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) mission to Guinea- Bissau seeking a negotiated solution to the political crisis after the ouster of President Kumba Yala Sunday in a coup d'etat. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) announced Sunday it was sending a fact-finding mission of foreign ministers to Guinea Bissau, where army chiefs earlier in the day toppled elected President Kumba Yala and took constitutional power. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- ECOWAS Chair, President John Kufuor of Ghana said Thursday the sub-regional organisation would fully support the National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL) to be inaugurated 14 October. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade on Saturday launched the first vessel of the Ecomarine International, a shipping company created with help from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Children representing mock parliaments of the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS) member countries have urged their heads of state to eradicate armed conflicts in the sub-region and invest more in children's health and education. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- A contingent of 250 Beninese soldiers leaves here 10 September to form part of the Economic Community of West African States Mission in Liberia (ECOMIL), official sources revealed Friday. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- A meeting of the ECOWAS Commission on Political, Legal and Judicial Affairs, Regional Security and Immigration opened here Friday to consider proposed amendments to the revised treaty and the protocol relating to the Community's Court of Justice. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- A meeting of leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) earlier billed for Saturday in Dakar has been put off to a later date, official sources disclosed here Thursday. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will soon begin the demobilisation of child soldiers in Liberia, official sources disclosed here. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The presence of children in the streets begging for alms has become a pre-occupation of the Senegalese government, minister for family, social development and national solidarity, Awa Gueye Kebe, said here Thursday. Full text...

Lome- Togo (PANA) -- A Togolese contingent of 150 troops left here Thursday for Monrovia to join the ECOWAS Peace Mission in Liberia (ECOMIL). Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Mohamed Ibn Chambas on Thursday condemned the enrolment of children soldiers in the sub-region's civil wars and ethnical religious conflicts. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Infant mortality has decreased slightly in West Africa over the past 12 years, from 180 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 175 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2002, according to UNICEF's regional bureau for West Africa. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) convene here next Saturday to examine the situation of children in the sub region, the UNICEF regional office for West and Central Africa announced Monday. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The deployment of troops under the ECOWAS Mission in Liberia (ECOMIL) will be completed next week, informed officials said in Abuja Monday. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- Finance, integration and trade ministers from the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will attend a two-day extraordinary session here Monday and Tuesday devoted to trade liberalisation and the implementation of the grouping's levy. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- The 12th meeting of the convergence council of the West African Monetary Zone opened here Thursday with Nigeria's Minster of Cooperation and Integration in Africa saying most member states had made significant progress in meeting the primary convergence criteria for the establishment of the Zone. Full text...

Bissau- Guinea-Bissau (PANA) -- The first batch of 150 soldiers from Guinea Bissau was Wednesday waiting for a plane to take them to Liberia, to join the ECOWAS peacekeeping Mission (ECOMIL), military sources said. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- A contingent of 250 Malian troops will leave Bamako Thursday to join Nigerian and Ghanaian forces as part of the ECOWAS peacekeeping mission to Liberia, officials said. Full text...

Conakry- Guinea (PANA) -- At a private meeting Friday with his Guinean host, President Lansana Conte, interim Liberian President Moses Blah enjoined Conakry to support the peace process in Liberia. Full text...

Freetown- Sierra Leone (PANA) -- Liberian head of state, Gen. Full text...

Nouakchott- Mauritania (PANA) -- Ahmed Ould Daddah, Secretary General of the opposition Rally of Democratic Forces (RFD) has promised to return Mauritania to ECOWAS if voted the country's president in the 7 November presidential elections. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigeria's Co-operation and Integration in Africa Minister, Lawan Guba, Thursday urged financial institutions in West Africa to brace for the challenges of monetary integration in the sub-region. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Building on the momentum generated by the signing of the Liberia peace accord, ECOWAS Mediator for Liberia, Abdulsalami Abubakar and the sub-regional community's Executive Secretary Mohamed Ibn Chambas left Accra for Liberia Thursday to launch a peace mission to some West African States, ECOWAS officials told PANA in Lagos. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- UN Special Envoy for West Africa Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah Wednesday urged the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the international community to continue to support the peace process in Liberia. Full text...

Bissau- Guinea Bissau (PANA) -- Guinea Bissau looks forward to support from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the conduct of early parliamentary polls due 12 October, President Koumba Yala declared here Monday. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- The Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed by Liberian stakeholders Monday after more than two months of tough negotiations brokered by ECOWAS, provides for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to provide a forum that will address issues of impunity. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- Liberia's warring factions and political parties Monday signed the long-awaited comprehensive peace agreement, paving the way for political and military arrangements for peace in the war-torn country. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- Liberian stakeholders are now set to sign a comprehensive peace agreement after last-minute hitches were removed by mediators, sources at the ECOWAS-brokered talks said in the Ghanaian capital Monday. Full text...

Monrovia- Liberia (PANA) -- The first batch of Nigeria's second battalion to the Economic Community of West African States Mission to Liberia (ECOMIL), has arrived in Monrovia. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- ECOWAS Executive Secretary Mohamed Ibn Chambas has stressed the need for a comprehensive disarmament programme in Liberia as part of ongoing peace process, in order to rid the country of arms that have contributed to instability in the sub-region. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- A comprehensive peace agreement that would effectively signal the end of the Liberian crisis will be signed in Accra on Saturday, following the resolution of knotty issues that have hindered peace talks in the Ghanaian capital, reliable sources told PANA here Thursday. Full text...

Monrovia- Liberia (PANA) -- Ghanaian President John Kufuor, current chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) intimated here Monday that a transitional government would be formed in Liberia next October. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- As the first ECOWAS youth forum opened in Abuja Monday, youths from many West African nations, including Benin Republic, Niger, Togo and Liberia, failed to show up due to the indefinite closure of the Benin-Nigeria border by the Nigerian government. Full text...

Monrovia- Liberia (PANA) -- The ECOWAS Mission in Liberia (ECOMIL) and the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) are yet to reach an agreement on control of the port of Monrovia, paving the way for relief supplies to be brought into the Liberian capital. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- The Netherlands has agreed to make an additional grant of 500,000 euros to ECOWAS to help it in the deployment of its peacekeeping troops to Liberia. Full text...

Conakry- Guinea (PANA) -- Guinean President Lansana Conte held talks on Friday with an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) delegation led by erstwhile Nigerian President, Abdusalami Abubakar, the national television has reported. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- Mediators at the Liberian peace talks in Accra are again hoping to clinch a decisive deal to be signed by all parties to the country's bloody war, Cheick Diarra, ECOWAS Deputy Executive Secretary, Defence, Security and Political Affairs, said in the Ghanaian capital Friday. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- Ministers of Finance, Integration and Trade of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are slated to hold an extraordinary session here on trade and commerce from 29 August to 2 September, official sources said here. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Even as he steers the delicate peace process in war-torn Liberia, the executive secretary of ECOWAS, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, has been re-elected into the Council of his alma mater, the prestigious Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, for another four-year term. Full text...

Monrovia- Liberia (PANA) -- Col. Full text...

Monrovia- Liberia (PANA) -- The main mediator in the Liberian crisis, former Nigerian leader Abdusalami Abubakar, and Mohamed Ibn Chambas, the executive secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), arrived Thursday night in Monrovia, the Liberian capital. Full text...

Monrovia- Liberia (PANA) -- About 150 troops of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Mission to Liberia (ECOMIL) were deployed Thursday in the embattled capital of Monrovia. Full text...

Monrovia- Liberia (PANA) -- A serious incident between Nigerian soldiers of the ECOWAS Mission to Liberia (ECOMIL) and militiamen loyal to President Charles Taylor was barely avoided early Thursday at Roberts international airport. Full text...