Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria has been urged to use his “good offices and leadership to ensure full compliance with the judgment by the ECOWAS Court of Justice on the right of the country's children to free, quality and compulsory basic education, as the most effective way to address the root causes of the post election violence and killings.” Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS has condemned the reported massacre of civilians in and around Duekouein in Western Cote d'Ivoire on 29 March, warning that it will ''actively support any action to bring the perpetrators to justice at the appropriate time''. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The ECOWAS Commission Friday blamed Cote d'Ivoire's recalcitrant incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo for the intensified fighting in the West African nation, after forces loyal to president-elect Alassane Ouattara swept into the commercial city of Abidjan in an attempt to dislodge Gbagbo. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Japan has donated US$600,000 to the ECOWAS Commission to fight drug trafficking in the sub-region. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) has urged the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to use any means necessary to oust former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo.Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe has expressed his happiness and gratitude to his fellow heads of state in ECOWAS for the bloc's decision to honour his father and three others for their roles in the establishment of the regional organisation. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has set up a five-member committee, at the level of heads of state, to review the modalities for the allocation of statutory positions within the organisation, according to a communique issued at the end of the bloc's summit here. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The 39th ordinary session of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) rounded off in Nigeria's capital city of Abuja Thursday with far-reaching decisions taken by the 10 Presidents and the two Vice Presidents who attended the meeting. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Thursday took a decisive step towards the removal of Cote d'Ivoire's recalcitrant outgoing President Laurent Gbagbo, requesting the UN to authorise the immediate implementation of the decisions by West African leaders in December 2010 on the situation in Cote d'Ivoire. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS leaders Thursday granted Chad an Observer status "in order to strengthen cooperation with this country in some areas relating to economic integration". Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS Thursday re-admitted Guinea and Niger after lifting the suspension of their membership. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The 39th ordinary summit of ECOWAS holding here Thursday elected Nigeria to an unprecedented third term as Chairman of the 15- member organization.Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria may have been elected to an unprecedented third term as Chair of the Economic Community of West Africzn States (ECOWAS), informed sources at the ongoing ECOWAS Summit in Abuja, Nigeria, told PANA here Thursday. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will later Thursday bestow honorary Ambassadorship on four distinguished citizens of West Africa for their contributions to the establishment and the successes recorded by the Community since it was founded in 1975. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Presidents Boni Yayi of Benin and Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso left the ongoing ECOWAS Summit in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, shortly after the opening ceremony Wednesday, because of the situation in their countries, PANA learnt from ECOWAS sources here.Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The ECOWAS Commission has condemned the ''incendiary rhetoric'' against citizens of ECOWAS Member States in Cote d’Ivoire, which is enmeshed in a post-election crisis that has killed over 400 and forced hundreds of thousands to flee to neighbouring countries. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Wednesday hailed the successful conclusion of the political transition programmes in Niger and Guinea, as well as the elections in Benin.Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The United Nations Wednesday pledged its continued support to ECOWAS in its efforts to resolve the post-election crisis in Cote d'Ivoire, but warned the parties to the crisis to refrain from violence and respect human rights. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - West African leaders meeting in Nigeria's capital city of Abuja will urge the UN to play a more active role in the regional-led efforts to resolve the worsening post-election crisis in Cote d'Ivoire, according to Nigeria's President and ECOWAS Chairman Goodluck Jonathan. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Hundreds of women from several West African nations converged at the ECOWAS Commission headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria, Wednesday, to demand immediate action from West African leaders holding their summit here 23-24 March.Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The worsening post-election crisis in Cote d'Ivoire will top the agenda of the 39th ordinary summit of ECOWAS due to open in Nigeria's capital city of Abuja Wednesday (23March) about midday local time. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - Mali's President Amadou Toumani Toure is due to leave Bamako Wednesday for Abuja, Nigeria's federal capital, to attend the 39th Ordinary Session of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of the West Africa States (ECOWAS), PANA learnt here from an official source. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has expressed deep concern over the ''escalating tensions'' in some parts of Benin, ater the announcement of the provisional result by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is to institute an award to honour deserving citizens of West Africa and show appreciation for their contributions to the establishment and the successes recorded by the Community since its inception in 1975. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is set to review the sanctions it imposed on two of its members, Guinea and Niger, after they contravened organisation's Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, ECOWAS Commission sources told PANA here Monday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria’s Mac Kusare has won the ECOWAS prize for integration at the just-concluded 22nd Pan African Film and Television Festival (FESPACO) which ended 5 March in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, ECOWAS said in a press release, received by PANA here Thursday.Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The postponed ordinary summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will now hold 23-24 March 2011 in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, ECOWAS Commission sources told PANA here Tuesday.. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - A Nigerian civil society organisation has asked the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Abuja to “urgently issue a writ of execution against the Nigerian government and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) to secure the full and effective implementation of the ECOWAS Court judgment requiring the government to provide free and compulsory basic education to every Nigerian child.” Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - The ECOWAS Commission says it will rely on Non-State Actors (NSA) to execute its community integration programmes, Adrienne Yande Diop, the ECOWAS Commissioner for human development and gender, announced Monday in Dakar, the Senegalese capital.Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has alleged a ''security threat'' against its facilitator for Cote d'Ivoire, President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso, by some supporters of outgoing President Laurent Gbagbo. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A suit filed by lawyers to outgoing Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, to bar the regional bloc from using force to oust him, will come up for hearing 10 March at the Economic Community of West Africa States' Court of Justice in Abuja, a court official told PANA here Monday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS insisted Friday that South Africa's deployment of a warship to Cote d'Ivoire, without notifying the regional bloc, amounted to offering unilateral support to outgoing Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, in defiance of the global call on him to vacate office for Alassane Ouattara, the presumed winner of the country's presidential poll. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The ordinary summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), scheduled for Abuja, Nigeria, 17-18 Feb. 2011, has been postponed indefinitely, PANA learnt here Thursday from reliable sources. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The usually-frank ECOWAS Commission President, Ambassador James Victor Gbeho, Tuesday accused South Africa, among other unnamed African countries, of unilaterally supporting outgoing Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, widely acknowledged to have lost the country's presidential election last November. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria’s foremost business group, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), has urged the leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to exercise caution when taking decisions to resolve the lingering political crisis in Cote d’Ivoire, the world's top cocoa producer. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - As Nigeria intensifies its diplomatic efforts to find a quick resolution of the post-election crisis in Cote d'Ivoire, President Goodluck Jonathan has said all options remain on the table to ensure that incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo quits office. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS is dispatching a powerful delegation to the United States and the United Nations to garner their support for a possible use of force to oust incumbent Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, ECOWAS sources told PANA here Tuesday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will require a UN Security Council resolution to sanction the use of force against incumbent Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, beforethe regional bloc can activate that option. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Guillaume Soro, appointed head of government by Cote d'Ivoire's President-in-waiting Alassane Ouattara, Friday met with Nigeria's President and ECOWAS Chairman Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja, Nigeria. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Amid speculations that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) may have jettisoned its threat to use force to remove incumbent Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, the chair of the regional bloc has said the use of force remains an option. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Ghana's opposition to the possible use of force to remove incumbent Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo if he fails to step down, as threatened by ECOWAS leaders, is more far reaching than publicly stated, PANA learnt on Monday. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan, has appointed former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo as his special envoy for Cote d'Ivoire, the Nigerian presidency confirmed Sunday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A previously-scheduled meeting of West African military chiefs, due to be held in Bamako, Mali, 17-18 Jan., will provide them the opportunity to fine-tune their strategy for a possible use of force to kick out incumbent Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, an ECOWAS Commission spokesman said. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Incumbent Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo has agreed to negotiate a peaceful end to the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire, without pre-conditions, the ECOWAS delegation that met with him on Monday said. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) insisted Tuesday it will use force to remove incumbent Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo if he fails to quit peacefully. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Three West African Presidents Monday failed, again, to persuade incumbent Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo to step down in favour of the internationally-recognised winner of the 28 Nov. presidential runoff in the West African nation, Alassane Ouattara, a source close to the ECOWAS delegation told PANA Monday night. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) may offer incumbent Ivorian leader Laurent Gbagbo amnesty from possible prosecution as a carrot to make him step down as demanded by the 15-member regional bloc, PANA has learnt.Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Three West African Presidents were due in Abidjan Monday to continue their efforts to resolve the electoral impasse in Cote d'Ivoire, following the 28 Nov. 2010 presidential rerun in the cocoa-rich nation. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The decision by ECOWAS leaders to use force to kick out incumbent Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo if he fails to quit, in the aftermath of the dispute over the country's presidential runoff, is legal, contrary to the criticisms in certain quarters. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The use of force to remove incumbent Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo remains an option, despite the ongoing negotiations between ECOWAS and the embattled Gbagbo, the regional bloc's Spokesman, Sunny Ugoh, said Thursday. Full text...