Ouagadougou- Burkina Faso (PANA) -- President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso left here Wednesday for Abuja, Nigeria to attend the extraordinary summit of ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) and the swearing-in of re-elected Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- President Mathieu Kerekou left here Wednesday for Abuja to participate in the extraordinary summit of ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) that is expected to discuss peace, security and sub-regional integration. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- ECOWAS Chairman President John Kufuor left Accra Tuesday for Abuja, Nigeria to attend a one-day extraordinary summit of heads of state of ECOWAS and the inauguration of President Olusegun Obasanjo for a second term. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- West African leaders will converge on Nigeria's capital city, Abuja, Wednesday for a one-day extraordinary summit planned to coincide with the 28th anniversary of ECOWAS, the secretariat of the 15-member organisation said in a statement Tuesday. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- A three-day regional workshop on the co-ordination of drug reduction efforts among member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) opened in Accra on Monday with a call on governments in the sub-region to mobilise available resources towards drug control. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- ECOWAS mediator for Liberia, Abdulsalami Abubakar, left Nigeria for Freetown, Sierra Leone Monday to meet with rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), ahead of the 4 June Liberian peace talks, ECOWAS officials said Monday in Lagos. Full text...

Sun City- South Africa (PANA) -- Foreign ministers from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) meet here Thursday evening to discuss the current security situation in West Africa, with focus on Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire. Full text...

New York- US (PANA) -- With barely a day to the start of a scheduled tour of troubled West African nations by a 15-member UN Security Council committee, the world body has postponed the trip. Full text...

Paris- France (PANA) -- French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin met a delegation from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Monday in Paris to discuss the funding of a West African peacekeeping force in Cote d'Ivoire, French diplomatic sources said here. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Newly-appointed ECOWAS mediator for Liberia Abdulsalami Abubakar, has called for an unconditional and immediate cease-fire by the parties to the country's conflict. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), President John Kufuor of Ghana has appointed former Nigerian military leader General Abdulsalami Abubakar as ECOWAS mediator to the Liberian conflict. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) depute executive secretary Dr Oluremi Arabisala on Monday called on development partners to help the sub-regional grouping fashion a comprehensive agricultural policy. Full text...

Banjul- Gambia (PANA) -- Sedat Jobe, an ex-Gambian Foreign Secretary (Minister) and a former UNESCO Regional Director, has been named Co-ordinator of the Club For Strategic Monitoring and Mediation for Peace in West Africa, the Club said in a release Monday. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Friday announced in Dakar it has postponed repatriation of West African nationals in refugee camps in south-eastern Liberia, near the border with Cote d'Ivoire. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Jean Louis Domergue, representative of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) for West Africa, has welcomed the setting up of the Permanent Observatory for Migration in West Africa (OPMIAO). Full text...

Livingstone- Zambia (PANA) -- The speaker of parliament for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Ali Diallo, has warned that it will be difficult to establish a climate of peace and security in Cote d'Ivoire as long as the constitution which legalises the exclusion of some citizens remains in force. Full text...

New York- US (PANA) -- With important steps finally underway to secure durable peace in Côte d'Ivoire, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has appealed to the Security Council for urgent assistance to regional peacekeepers in the country. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- The ECOWAS observer Mission has endorsed Nigeria's 12 and 19 April legislative and presidential elections as "free, fair and transparent". Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) and the European Union (EU) have decided to start negotiations next September for an Economic Partnership Agreement (APE), European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy told a press conference here Saturday. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- ECOWAS ministers have called for ditional resources from the European Union (EU) to enable the region cope with the cost of adjustment to the planned introduction of a free trade area of the Union and the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The National Organisation for the Defence of Human Rights (ONDH) in Senegal has suggested the creation of an international criminal court for West Africa to handle crimes that do not come under the purview of the International Criminal Court. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- A Ghanaian official Thursday said West Africa was "optimistic that quick and effective" solutions would be found to trade disputes with European partners to ensure mutual benefits under the Cotonou Agreement. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- ECOWAS chair President John Kufuor on Wednesday called for early warning systems and institutions with credibility to be "honest brokers" when trouble looms or erupts within the West African subregion. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- A two-day meeting of Ministers from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the European Union (EU) opened in Accra Tuesday on how to forge closer co-operation under the Cotonou (Benin) Agreement. Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- The West African peacekeeping force in Cote d'Ivoire requires substantial financing, Foreign ministers from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) stressed here Monday, following a meeting of the bloc's Mediation and Security Council. Full text...

Yamoussoukro- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- Ghanaian President and chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) John Kufuor has enjoined the political class in neighbouring Cote d'Ivoire to forge national reconciliation with a view to relaunching the strife-torn country's economy. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- A six-member committee of the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council will arrive in Monrovia on Sunday to verify Liberia's compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 1408 of 6 May 2002, an ECOWAS statement said in Abuja. Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- Benin soldiers serving with the Economic Community of West African States mission in Cote d'Ivoire (ECOMICI) stationed in Bediala, about 422 km west of Abidjan, were attacked twice on 1 April by suspected Ivorian rebels, informed sources said in Abidjan Friday. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Defence Chiefs of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), have called for an increase in the subregional peacekeeping force in Cote d'Ivoire (ECOMICI) to 3,205 soldiers. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Lieutenant General Seth Kofi Obeng, Ghana's defence chief and chair of the ECOWAS Defence and Security Commission, Wednesday in Dakar urged the quick creation of standby military units to respond to crises in the subregion. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is to send a peacekeeping mission to Liberia before 24 April, the date set for the next meeting of the Community's Contact Group on Liberia, General Cheikh Diarra, ECOWAS deputy Executive Secretary, announced in Dakar, Senegal, Wednesday. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The sixth session of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Defence and Security Commission opened in Dakar, Senegal, Wednesday, focusing on the situation in Cote d'Ivoire, as well as children's rights and progress on a regional information exchange system. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- ECOWAS Executive Secretary Mohamed Ibn Chambas Tuesday briefed the organisation's development partners on the peace process in Cote d'Ivoire, rocked by a six-month-old political crisis. Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- Ecoforce, the peacekeeping force deployed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) took over control of a frontline in the Ivorian conflict from French troops at the weekend, sources confirmed Monday in Abidjan. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- ECOWAS and the government of Japan Monday in Abuja signed an agreement for 100,000 US dollars in support of the sub-regional body's peace and security programmes. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- The third meeting of the International Contact Group on Liberia, scheduled for Accra, Ghana April 14-16, will negotiate a cease-fire between the Liberian government and Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebels, ECOWAS officials said in Abuja Monday. Full text...

Bouake- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- A delegation from the three rebel groups in Cote d'Ivoire left here early Thursday to participate in an inter-Ivorian meeting initiated by Ghanaian President John Kufuor, who is current chairman of ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States). Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- ECOWAS military chiefs have proposed that the regional military mission in Cote d'Ivoire be increased from 1,264 to 3,411 troops. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- ECOWAS Defence Chiefs ended their fifth meeting in Accra, Ghana, Wednesday by endorsing the proposal by Force Commander, General Papa Khalilou Fall, for an increase in the size of the regional military mission in Cote d'Ivoire from 1,264 to 3,411. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- A two-day 5th Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Defence and Security Commission meeting began in Accra Tuesday with a call on subregional security officials to come up with recommendations to help solve the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) on Monday warned in a report that other currencies in ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) countries have continued to depreciate against the franc CFA. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is working to bring the government and the rebel LURD together for direct talks next month in a bid to ensure that the upcoming general elections in Liberia are credible and transparent. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- ECOWAS, the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (UEMOA) and the European Union (EU) Wednesday in Abuja signed agreements on economic co-operation. Full text...

Paris- France (PANA) -- Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema had talks Wednesday with French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, but details of the meeting were not disclosed. Full text...

New York- US (PANA) -- UN envoy on the humanitarian situation in Cote d'Ivoire Carolyn McAskie said Thursday that the crisis in that country could cripple the economy of the entire West African subregion. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Contact Group on Cote d'Ivoire, have reaffirmed their solidarity with the Ivorian people and their readiness to continue their efforts to end the four-month-old crisis in the country. Full text...

Yamoussoukro- Côte d'Ivoire (PANA) -- West African leaders ended their meeting here Monday noting that Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo accepts "the spirit" of the Marcoussis peace accords. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The 30-31 January 26th ECOWAS ordinary Summit in Dakar, is to be preceded by an extra-ordinary meeting of leaders of Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, the five countries of the sub-region's second monetary zone. Full text...

Lome- Togo (PANA) -- Heads of States of Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, Ghana and Niger arrived in Lome Monday to join their Togolese counterpart, President Gnassingbe Eyadema, at a mini-summit on the Ivorian crisis. Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- The first batch of 179 Senegalese soldiers on the ECOWAS peacekeeping force, which arrived Saturday in Cote d'Ivoire, will shortly be deployed, French military sources in Abidjan said. Full text...