Lome- Togo (PANA) -- Peace talks launched Wednesday between rebels and the Ivorian government have broken off for two days, sources close to the mediators reported Saturday in Lome. Full text...

Lome- Togo (PANA) -- The Ivorian government delegation and representatives of the Patriotic Movement of Cote d'Ivoire (MPCI) have agreed to avoid acrimonious accusations and rancour during their ongoing peace talks in Lome, Togo. Full text...

Lome- Togo (PANA) -- Tuo Fozié and Chérif Ousmane, two leaders of the Ivorian military insurrection returned to their Bouake stronghold Thursday from Lome where talks are underway with the Ivorian government under the auspices of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Full text...

Lome- Togo (PANA) -- Ivorian government officials and rebels began a second round of talks in Lome Wednesday afternoon following the first meeting presided over by Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema, the co-ordinator of the ECOWAS contact group on the Ivorian crisis. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Nine ECOWAS Member States -- Benin, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo -- have pledged to provide 2,386 troops for the sub-regional peace mission to Cote d'Ivoire. Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- The Ivorian government delegation to the ECOWAS peace talks on the political crisis in Cote d'Ivoire would be led by the country's Economic and Social Council President, Laurent Dona Fologo, PANA learnt Monday. Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- A peacekeeping force of 2,000 troops is to be deployed to Cote d'Ivoire, the executive secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) announced here at the weekend. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- ECOWAS Education Ministers have appealed to leaders in the sub-region to make HIV/AIDS treatment more accessible to children, teachers and other education workers. Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- Togolese president Gnassingbe Eyadema has been chosen to coordinate the work of a contact group set up by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to mediate in the Cote d'Ivoire crisis, sources affirmed Wednesday in Abidjan. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- Ghanaian Vice-President Aliu Mahama warned Monday that HIV/AIDS could wipe out Africa's productive age group and undermine socio-economic development unless political, financial, social and intellectual resources were mobilised to urgently stop the pandemic. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Heads of State of the Contact Group set up on Cote d'Ivoire by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) would now meet in Abidjan on Wednesday, instead of Tuesday as earlier scheduled, ECOWAS sources said. Full text...

Monrovia- Liberia (PANA) -- Liberia may not send troops to neighbouring Cote d'Ivoire as part of an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) peacekeeping mission, President Charles Taylor said Friday. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- After brokering a cease-fire agreement between the Ivorian government and rebel soldiers on Thursday, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has scheduled a summit of its Contact Group on the crisis for 22 October, an ECOWAS source said Friday. Full text...

Abidjan- Côte d'Ivoire (PANA) -- Soro Guillaume, Secretary General of the Patriotic Movement of Côte d'Ivoire (MPCI) Friday criticised President Laurent Gbagbo's speech late Thursday, saying the country's mutinous soldiers should be disarmed by ECOWAS. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- Officials of UN agencies in the West Africa sub-region said in Accra Thursday that the armed conflict in Cote d'Ivoire has adversely affected several thousands of other ECOWAS nationals and called for concerted efforts to prevent further escalation of the crisis. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The executive secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Mohammed Ibn Chambas is due in Abidjan on Saturday in continuation of efforts by the sub-regional bloc to find a political solution to the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Health Ministers from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) met in Harare Thursday on the sidelines of the ongoing 52nd session of WHO Regional Committee for Africa to discuss health problems plaguing the sub-region. Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- A contact group despatched to Cote d'Ivoire by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has indicated it would negotiate a cease-fire as a matter of priority, before seeking a lasting solution to the conflict between rebel soldiers and the Ivorian government. Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- Amara Essy, the Interim President of the African Union (AU) Commission, will Friday join a 22-member ECOWAS team in Bouake, on negotiations to end the Ivorian uprising, the ECOWAS Executive Secretary Mohamed Ibn Chambas said in Abidjan Thursday. Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- The possible intervention of troops of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the Ivorian crisis was the main focus of the local press Wednesday. Full text...

Abidjan- Côte d'Ivoire (PANA) -- The contact group of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has made its first communication with rebel soldiers in Côte d'Ivoire, officials here confirmed Wednesday. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- With concerns over the growing number of mercenaries and easy access to arms in West Africa, regional leaders plead with rebels in Côte d'Ivoire to end the growing crisis in the country at round-table talks. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- Current ECOWAS chair Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade is urging President Laurent Gbagbo of Côte d'Ivoire to engage in dialogue with disgruntled soldiers who launched a mutiny on 19 September and who now have control of three major towns in the north of the country. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- ECOWAS leaders agreed Sunday in Accra to create a "high-level" mediation mission of Heads of six States comprising Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Togo, on the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade left Dakar Sunday morning for the Ghanaian capital of Accra to participate in the emergency ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) Summit devoted to the political crisis in Cote d'Ivoire. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- When West African leaders meet in Ghana's Parliament House on Sunday to discuss bringing peace to Côte d'Ivoire, they may see dangers outside the official explanations for the current unrest in the country which was formerly a haven of peace in the sub-region. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- Fifteen Heads of State and governments of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are expected to attend an emergency summit in Accra Sunday on the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghanaian authorities confirmed here Friday. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- The African Development Bank (ADB) has approved a grant of 3. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- An emergency summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) called to discuss the military uprising in Côte d'Ivoire has been shifted from Abidjan to Accra, the ECOWAS Secretariat said in Abuja Friday. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- A summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will take place 29 September in Abidjan to discuss the military uprising in Côte d'Ivoire, according to a communiqué issued Thursday by the sub-regional bloc. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Cote d'Ivoire, under siege by mutinous soldiers resisting plans to demobilise them, has asked for "support and assistance" from the sub-regional group ECOWAS, to quell the uprising, ECOWAS officials said Thursday. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Education ministers from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) met 24-25 September in Dakar and adopted a draft Protocol on Education and Training. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- ECOWAS chairman and Senegalese President, Abdoulaye Wade, will host an extraordinary Summit of the 15-nation Community 5 October on the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- The ECOWAS Parliament Tuesday condemned "in the strongest terms, any attempt to truncate the growth of democracy or take over power through unconstitutional means" in Cote d'Ivoire. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has postponed indefinitely the meeting of Inspectors-General of Police in member states, scheduled to start in Abidjan Monday. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Friday condemned the mutiny by demobilised soldiers in Cote d'Ivoire, which the country's authorities have described as a failed military coup. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- A conference of Economic Community of West African States education ministers will be held in Dakar, from 24 to 25 September, to discuss "subregional integration of the objectives of education for sustainable development," a UNESCO press release said Thursday. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Inspectors-General of Police in ECOWAS member nations are to meet in Abidjan on 23-24 September in an effort to facilitate intra-community cooperation in checking cross-border crime, the ECOWAS Secretariat in Abuja has announced. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- The idea of West Africa taking a major step towards a common currency come next year will remain a dream, at least for now. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- Experts from member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) began meeting Monday in Bamako to draft a plan of action to be discussed at the Heads of State summit coming up 10 October in Dakar, Senegal. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- ECOWAS Ministers of Trade and Finance met in Cotonou, Benin, Wednesday to agree a framework for negotiations with the European Union (EU), under the June 2000 Cotonou partnership agreement between the Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. Full text...

Lomé- Togo (PANA) -- ECOWAS Investment and Development Bank will open for business on the first working day of January 2003, the bank's president Christian Adovelande has announced. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The ECOWAS Parliament currently sitting in Abuja is to intervene in the current face-off between the Nigerian presidency and the National Assembly, which has culminated in a threat to impeach President Olusegun Obasanjo. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) plans to set up a radio and television station to help publicise subregional integration programmes, the ECOWAS Director of Communications, Adrienne Diop, said in Dakar. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The ECOWAS Parliament has opposed moves by Togo to replace its representative in the body, Pere Dahuku, apparently because of domestic political problems, the News Agency of Nigeria reported. Full text...

Banjul- Gambia (PANA) -- This year's ECOWAS Nutrition Forum opened in Banjul on Monday with a call on member states for concrete action to improve upon the nutrition status of their people. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The ECOWAS Council of Ministers meeting in Abuja has ratified the appointment of Momodu Sallah of Gambia as the Community's Financial Controller, resuscitating the post, which was scrapped in 1999, ECOWAS officials said. Full text...

Praia- Cape Verde (PANA) -- A delegation of Cape Verdean MPs is expected to leave Praia Friday for Abuja (Nigeria) to take part in the 4th ordinary session of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a reliable source said Thursday. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- ECOWAS Council of Ministers began a meeting in Abuja Tuesday to consider the report of an ad-hoc ministerial Committee on the restructuring of the ECOWAS Fund and the Secretariat. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- The sixth extra-ordinary session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers opens in the Nigerian capital of Abuja Tuesday, the ECOWAS Secretariat announced Monday. Full text...