Context: The military regimes of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger announced their withdrawal from the West African Bloc ECOWAS.
About ECOWAS
- Heads of State and Governments of fifteen West African Countries established the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) when they signed the ECOWAS Treaty (Treaty of Lagos) in 1975 in Lagos, Nigeria.
- The only Arabic-speaking Member, Mauritania withdrew in 2000 from the ECOWAS. Mauritania recently signed a new associate-membership agreement in 2017 with ECOWAS.
- ECOWAS was set up to foster the ideal of collective self-sufficiency for its member states. As a trading union, it is also meant to create a single, large trading bloc through economic cooperation.
- Headquarters: Abuja, Nigeria.
- Aim of ECOWAS: is to promote cooperation and integration, leading to the establishment of an economic union in West Africa in order to raise the living standards of its peoples, and to maintain and enhance economic stability, foster relations-among Member States and contribute to the progress and development of the African continent.
- ECOWAS consists of two operating institutions to implement policies: the ECOWAS Commission and the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) – formerly known as the Fund for Cooperation.
- ECOWAS Community Court of Justice was created by a protocol signed in 1991. The jurisdiction of the court allows rulings on disputes between states over interpretations of the Treaty. Like its companion courts, European Court of Human Rights and East African Court of Justice, it has jurisdiction to rule on fundamental human rights breaches.
- The estimated 300 million citizens of the community can ultimately take ownership for the realization of the new vision of moving from an ECOWAS of States to an “ECOWAS of the People: Peace and Prosperity to All” by 2050.
Note: The region of West Africa is located west of the north-south axis lying close to 10° east longitude. The Atlantic Ocean forms the western as well as the southern borders of the West African region. The northern border is the Sahara Desert, with the Ranishanu Bend (#PrelimsFact) generally considered the northernmost part of the region. The eastern border lies between the Benue Trough (#PrelimsFact), and a line running from Mount Cameroon to Lake Chad.