Sogakope, Ghana (PANA) - A three-day sensitization and capacity building workshop for journalists on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALWs) control opened Thursday at Sogakope in the Volta Region, with a call on journalists to help redice the proliferation of such weapons. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Thursday reiterated its opposition to the military coup in Guinea Bissau, and vowed not to recognize the transitional government formed by the junta. Full text...

Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) – Elated at the key roles played by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the successes it has achieved in the sub-region, three parties from the ruling majority coalition in Mauritania on Thursday urged their government to re-join the 15-member regional bloc. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will hold an extra-ordinary summit in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, on 26 April to deliberate on developments in two of its member states where soldiers have seized power within the past month, PANA reported Thursday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A three-day sensitization and capacity building workshop for journalists in Ghana opens Thursday at Sogakope near the country’s border with Togo, as part of efforts to promote effective implementation of the ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) control which entered into force in September 2009. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - The eighth edition of the ECOWAS wrestling tournament will begin Wednesday in Niamey, Niger's capital, the organizers said in a statement. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The high-level delegation dispatched by the ECOWAS Chairman, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara, to meet with the junta that seized power in Guinea Bissau, was able to enter the country on Monday despite the closure of sea and air borders announced by the putschists, PANA has learnt. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A high-level ECOWAS delegation, to be led by Commission President Desire Kadre Ouedraogo, is due in Bissau Monday to deliver a letter from the chairman of the regional organization, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara, to the military junta in Guinea Bissau, ECOWAS sources told PANA Sunday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council has recommended for adoption by regional leaders the report of the region's defence chiefs on the possible deployment of a regional force that will assist Mali to retake its northern territory from Tuareg rebels and their Islamist allies, and undertake peacekeeping and related operations. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has condemned the ongoing attempt by the military to overthrow the government of Guinea Bissau, describing it as ''irresponsible''. Full text...

Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (PANA) - The 17h plenary meeting of the technical commission of the Inter-government Action Group Against Money Laundering (GIABA) will be held 2-5 May in Abidjan, the business capital of Côte d'Ivoire, a GIABA statement said. Full text...

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) - The European Union (EU) has hailed the planned return to constitutional rule in Mali, following an agreement reached between the coupists who seized power in the country 22 March and the regional bloc ECOWAS. Full text...

Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) - The ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council will meet at the ministerial level Thursday in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, to review proposals for resolving the political crises in Mali and Guinea Bissau. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has commended the continued efforts by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to facilitate the restoration of constitutional order in Mali, and called on the country's military junta to immediately implement the accord it signed on Friday with the regional bloc. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS has lifted the economic, diplomatic and financial sanctions imposed on Mali in the aftermath of the 22 March military coup by low-ranking soldiers. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Malian putschists' deal with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to return the country to constitutional order will pave the way for a faster resolution of the crisis in its northern part, where Tuareg rebels on Friday declared the independence of the ''State of Azawad'', analysts said. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the coup plotters in Mali have struck a deal to return the West African nation to constitutional rule, PANA learnt here. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has described Friday's declaration of independence for the so-called State of Azawad by the Tuareg rebels in northern Mali as ''null and void, and of no effect''. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The ECOWAS Commission and the UN will jointly produce a television documentary that will project the contributions of women in regional cross-border trade. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The ECOWAS Strategic Planning Coordinating Committee (SPCC) has adopted the Regional Medium-Term Action Area (RMTAA) document and its implementation framework which spell out the strategic role of Community Institutions and action guidelines for the orderly development of the region. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - West African Ministers in charge of Industry have appealed to financial institutions in the region, technical and financial partners, the private sector and Member States, to support the speedy implementation of the West Africa Industrial Policy programmes. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - A meeting of stakeholders in the veterinary services of ECOWAS Member States is underway in Accra, Ghana, to fashion out a coordinated surveillance and laboratory-based mechanism for the prevention and control of trans-boundary animal diseases as part of efforts to improve the quality of livestock in the region. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has announced a range of tough sanctions, including a travel ban and assets freeze, on the ruling junta in Mali, after an apparently-orchestrated pro-junta demonstration scuttled a mission to Bamako by a high-level delegation of the regional bloc on Thursday. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - Thursday's visit of the ECOWAS high-level delegation to Bamako, over the coup in Mali, has been cancelled over a security scare at the airport in the Malian capital, PANA learnt from sources close to the delegation. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Six West African leaders who are members of the high level delegation constituted at the just-ended extraordinary summit of ECOWAS, over the coup in Mali, were due in the country Thursday to reinforce the regional drive to restore constitutional order there, the ECOWAS Commission said in a statement made available to PANA. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The ECOWAS Commission has charged trade, industry and private sector experts, in conjunction with other stakeholders, to sensitize and mobilize member states on the need to speed up the implementation of the West Africa Common Industrial Policy (WACIP), adopted in July 2010. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has appointed President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso as Mediator in the Malian crisis, which prompted the military coup that toppled the country's elected government last week. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has suspended Mali and warned the putschists who toppled the country's democratically-elected President last week that they could face the military might of the regional bloc, if they fail to restore constitutional rule. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have congratulated the President-Elect of Senegal, Mr. Macky Sall, for his victory in Sunday's presidential runoff. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - West African leaders who met at an extra-ordinary summit in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, Tuesday suspended Mali from the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), following Thursday's military coup that toppled the country's democratically-elected government, sources at the meeting told PANA. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Togolese Mines and Energy Minister Dammipi Noupokou has called on West African countries to step-up the implementation of the 2009 ECOWAS Directive on Harmonization of Principles and Policy in the Mineral Sector, especially by improving the conditions of life of solid mineral, oil and gas host communities. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - West African leaders meeting at an extra-ordinary summit in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, Tuesday decided to send five chiefs of defence staff to Mali to convey to the soldiers who seized power last week the consequences of their action, sources at the summit told PANA. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Mali, where mutinous soldiers ousted the country's democratically-elected President last week, faces a possible suspension from ECOWAS as the regional bloc holds an extra-ordinary summit on the situation in its Member State Tuesday in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, PANA reported. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The head of the ECOWAS Electoral Observation Mission and former Prime Minister of Togo, Koffi Sama, has hailed the level of maturity in Senegal's democracy, after incumbent president, Abdoulaye Wade, conceded defeat to his former Prime Minister, Macky Sall, at the end of the second round of the presidential election on Sunday. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The West African regional bloc, ECOWAS, is to hold an extra-ordinary summit in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, Tuesday, PANA reported Friday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - In its second reaction to the military putsch in Mali Thursday, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has condemned the coup and promised to take urgent measures to restore democratic rule in its member state. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) warned Thursday it will not tolerate any attempt to take power by unconstitutional means in Mali, after a mutiny by renegade troops at the Kati Barracks on the outskirts of the capital, Bamako, Wednesday, turned into an apparent coup. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The ECOWAS Observation Mission to Sunday's presidential runoff in Senegal arrived in the country on Tuesday, the ECOWAS Commission said in a statement made available to PANA here. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - The Second ECOWAS-China Business Forum, which focuses on attracting additional Chinese investment and development to the region, opened in Accra, the Ghanaian capital, on Tuesday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Ministers in charge of Humanitarian Affairs in ECOWAS member states have adopted the humanitarian policy and the ECOWAS action plan during their meeting on Friday, in Cotonou, Benin. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The ECOWAS Federation of Business Women and Entrepreneurs (ECOWAS-FEBWE) has launched its Nigeria Chapter with its President, Mrs. Iyalode Alaba Lawson, pledging the Chapter’s commitment to promote and facilitate trade for groups and individual women entrepreneurs in the region. Full text...

Bissau, Guinea Bissau (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has said the presidential election held in Guinea Bissau last Sunday was conducted under ''acceptable conditions of freedom and transparency''. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - A forum of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on bio-energy opened Monday in Bamako, the capital of Mali, official sources told PANA. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) announced on Monday that it will soon launch a mediation process in Mali, where Tuareg rebels have launched a rebellion against the government since January, leaving many dead and sending thousands fleeing to neighbouring countries. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Members of the Technical Sub-Committees of the West Africa Police Chiefs Committee (WAPCCO) are due to meet in Lome, Togo 21-23 March to prepare WAPCCO’s Annual General Assembly meeting, and discuss general policing issues in the region, an ECOWAS Commission statement made available to PANA here Friday said. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - A powerful ECOWAS Commission delegation, led by new President Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, arrived here Thursday to explore the possibility of engaging with the government and the rebels to end the fighting in northern Mali that has left many dead and sent thousands fleeing to other countries, PANA reported Friday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The ECOWAS Commission has launched a comprehensive staff audit, in line with the mandate given by regional leaders to the Commission to work with the best hands to deliver on the Organization’s objective of developing the region through a people-centred strategic approach, the Commission said in a statement obtained by PANA here. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS has intensified preparations for the Second Business Forum with China with the inaugural meeting of the Presidents of the Regional Business Associations (RBAs) and a joint meeting with the Inter-Ministerial Private Sector Organizing Committee for the forum, the regional organization indicated in a press statement, received here Tuesday by PANA. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS and Ghanaian officials have evaluated the implementation of the road map for the Second ECOWAS Games, to be hosted by Ghana in June 2012, the regional organization said in a statement, received by PANA here on Tuesday. Full text...

Abuja, Lagos (PANA) - ECOWAS and the Ghanaian government have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the Second ECOWAS Under-23 Games, to be hosted by Ghana from 2-8 June, 2012. Full text...