Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The troops to be deployed for the ECOWAS Mission in Guinea-Bissau (ECOMIB) are ready, but they will not be deployed until the equipment they will use during the mission are in place, PANA has learnt. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday in Abuja urged the Chiefs of Defence Staff Committee of ECOWAS member nations to ensure the sustenance of peace and security in the sub region. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's military and defence officials said on Monday the country is ready to contribute troops to the ECOWAS Mission to Guinea Bissau (ECOMIB). Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Peeved by the continuing moves by Mali's ex-junta to disrupt the country's political transition, ECOWAS on Monday warned the CNRDRE that represents the junta which seized power in the country in March to turn a new leaf or face the reinstatement of targeted sanctions. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The resettlement and reintegration of ECOWAS citizens displaced by conflicts is a priority critical to the region’s people-centred integration and development objective, ECOWAS Commission Vice President.Toga McIntosh said. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS Commission Vice President Toga Mcintosh has charged pioneer ECOWAS Volunteers deployed in Liberia to be worthy ambassadors by promoting the ideals of peace and development in their host communities. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - West African defence chiefs are due to meet in Nigeria's capital city of Abuja Monday to consider modalities for the deployment of troops to Guinea Bissau and Mali, two members states where soldiers have toppled elected governments in recent times. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - The Second ECOWAS Under-23 Games, earlier fixed for 2-8 June in Accra, Ghana, have been rescheduled for 16-22 June, the ECOWAS Commission said in press statement here, received by PANA Wednesday, citing logistics reasons. Full text...

Monrovia, Liberia (PANA) - The induction training for pioneer ECOWAS Volunteers, to be deployed in Liberia, kicked off in the capital, Monrovia, on Monday with the nation's Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs and Planning, Mr. Christopher Wallace, expressing immense gratitude to ECOWAS for assisting the country to end a civil war and accompanying it in capacity building to promote national development. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - To kick start its regional initiative to strengthen peace-building, national reconstruction and accelerated development in Member States, ECOWAS is organizing a week-long induction training in Monrovia, Liberia, from Monday, to prepare its pioneer volunteers, made of young specialists in various fields of human endeavour, for deployment in the West African nation.Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - Senegal, which earlier pledged to include a field hospital in its contingent to the ECOWAS Standby Force (ESF) heading to Guinea-Bissau, has added military engineers to the team, according to Senegalese President Macky Sall. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) should focus on its development objectives instead of managing political crises, its chairman, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara, has said. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS has outlined a 12-month transitional programme that will culminate in the election of a President for Guinea-Bissau, where soldiers last month truncated a process to elect a replacement for President Bacai Sanha who died in January. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The deployment of ECOWAS troops to Mali to help the country regain sovereignty over its rebel-held northern part will now depend on the country's request for such deployment, according to a communique issued after an extraordinary summit of West African leaders in Dakar, Senegal, late Thursday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Ad-hoc Committee monitoring the implementation of ECOWAS Regional Culture Development and Integration Programme has recommended that a study on the contributions of culture to the economy of Member States and the region be conducted in the first quarter of 2013. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - For the second time in as many weeks, ECOWAS is to hold an extraordinary summit on the situation in two of its member states - Guinea-Bissau and Mali - which are reeling from the effects of military coups that toppled the constitutional order in both nations. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS has imposed diplomatic, economic and financial sanctions on Guinea Bissau after the 29 April meeting in Banjul, The Gambia, between the foreign ministers of the regional Contact Group and the country's political stakeholders failed to reach a consensual arrangement to return the country to constitutional rule within 12 months. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has welcomed the release of Guinea-Bissau's Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior and Interim President Raimundo Pereira by the country's Military Command, which arrested and detained them after the 12 April coup in the country. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The seven-member ECOWAS Contact Group on Guinea-Bissau is meeting in Banjul, capital of The Gambia, Sunday to discuss the next steps in the resolution of the current crisis in the country (Guinea-Bissau). Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS and Venezuela have agreed to take measures to implement their 2009 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) towards the elimination of malaria in West Africa, the West African regional bloc said in a statement here Friday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - West African leaders who met at an extra-ordinary summit in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, Thursday ordered the immediate deployment of a contingent of the ECOWAS Standby Force to Guinea-Bissau, where soldiers seized power 12 April and have set up a so-called National Transitional Council. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS leaders Thursday ordered the immediate deployment of regional troops to Mali to help the country regain control of its northern region now being held by Tuareg rebels and their Islamist allies. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Regional experts in animal diseases have ended a five-day meeting in Accra, Ghana, with wide-ranging recommendations, including the call for the setting up of an emergency fund at country level for the management of health crises, including trans-boundary animal diseases, as part of efforts to promote the production of quality foods and exports in the ECOWAS region. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS leaders are meeting at an extra-ordinary summit in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, Thursday, on the political crises in Guinea-Bissau and Mali. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan, will Thursday attend an Extra-Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, a presidency statement issued here said. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS and the Republic of Cuba have agreed new measures to revive their collaboration towards the elimination of malaria in West Africa by 2015 through a control and elimination programme. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - West African agriculture stakeholders have intensified measures to improve the seasonal movement of livestock (transhumance) in order to boost the economies of ECOWAS Member States. Full text...

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...