ECOWAS Stories
Eight African countries are now under military rule, forming a ‘coup belt’ across the Sahel. Experts explain the drivers, vulnerable states and how sw...
Ghana's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, welcomed the decision, thanking his ECOWAS counterparts for what he described as a stro...
Soldiers tried to seize Benin’s state broadcaster in a failed coup, citing security and political grievances. The mutiny was crushed, but analysts war...
A new study of African coups from 2001–2022 finds the AU firmly sanctions most military takeovers but rarely confronts leaders who rig constitutions o...
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu confirms troops were sent to Benin at the government’s request after a failed coup, as ECOWAS deploys a regional force...
Nigeria has placed Guinea-Bissau opposition leader Fernando Dias da Costa under protection at its Bissau embassy after threats to his life, and asked...
ECOWAS has suspended Guinea-Bissau after a military coup, demanding President Umaro Sissoco Embaló’s release and swift publication of election results...
The recent surge in military takeovers across Africa has also overthrown leaders in Burkina Faso, Gabon, Guinea, Mali, Niger, and Sudan. And at least...
AU Commission Chairperson, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, said the continental body had decided to "suspend with immediate effect" Guinea-Bissau until constitu...
Senegal’s foreign ministry confirmed that Embaló had been flown in on a chartered military aircraft and was “safe and sound” after Ecowas-led discussi...
The bloc instructed its stabilisation mission in Guinea-Bissau (ESSMGB) to continue protecting state institutions, and ordered the country's armed for...
Africa’s agribusiness sector embodies the continent’s untapped potential for structural transformation.
To address the crisis, Guterres urged a “unified, coherent and consensus-based” regional response, the maintenance of financial support for humanitari...
With opposition figures barred and regional instability looming, Ivory Coast’s 2025 presidential vote tests the resilience of its democracy and the su...
In September 2023, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger signed the Liptako-Gourma Charter in Bamako, agreeing to establish the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
Burkina Faso’s military ruler is celebrated online as a pan-African revolutionary, but at home he curtails civil liberties, criminalises homosexuality...
The African Union has warned the continent loses billions in illicit financial flows each year. Analysts say stopping tax evasion and corruption is ju...
Despite past delays and ongoing issues, the Economic Community of West African States plans to introduce the regional eco currency by July 2027. The p...
Mali's military junta arrested two generals and a French national and accused them of attempting to destabilize the transitional government.
65 per cent of all the attacks, explosions, and violence against civilians recorded between 2000 and 2024 were located within one kilometre of a road.
The current political landscape in Mali, and in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger where conditions are similar, is an invitation to reconsider local...
Guinea-Bissau’s general elections had been scheduled for November 2024, but President Umaro Sissoco Embaló postponed them, citing political instabilit...
Niger's military ruler Abdourahamane Tchiani, who seized power in 2023, is now Niger's president. The country's return to democratic norms looks furth...
The ECOWAS team was sent to Guinea-Bissau last month to facilitate a "political consensus" on the timing of upcoming elections.
A dispute over when Embalo's presidential term should end has heightened tensions that risk unrest in a nation with a history of military coups.
Their decision to withdraw was announced in January 2024, citing dissatisfaction with the bloc's increasing ties to France.
Groups such as Islamic State and al-Qaeda are committed to the establishment of these states, denouncing democratic governance.
Niger, which began oil production in 2011 with a modest output of 20,000 barrels per day, views this pipeline as a significant economic asset.
Three countries in the insurgency-torn central Sahel region have set up their own alliance.
The three junta-led Sahel neighbours jointly announced in January they would leave the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), w...
