Assessment of ECOWAS Interventions in Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso and the Gambia

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume II, Issue IV, April 2018 | ISSN 2454-6186

Assessment of ECOWAS Interventions in Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso and the Gambia

Charles Akale¹, Kingsley Chigozie Udegbunam^2*, Julie Sanda³

¹Research Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Research and Studies, National Defense College, Abuja, Nigeria
²Social Sciences Unit, School of General Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
³Research Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Research and Studies, National Defence College, Abuja, Nigeria

*Corresponding author: Kingsley Chigozie Udegbunam

The increase in violent hostilities on the African continent since the 1990s can be attributed to the withdrawal of super power strategic interest in Africa following the end of the Cold War. The end of the Cold War dramatically changed the global strategic landscape. Although threat of big power and regional conflicts diminished, the security landscape became characterized by political fragmentation. In the Third World particularly West Africa has experienced many conflicts arising from a multiplicity of causes such as bad governance among others. The intensity and carnage that attended these conflicts, coupled with the in actions of the “big powers”, reinforced the need for an “African solution” to what was largely perceived as an “African problem”. Regional organizations such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) began to intervene in countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Ivory Coast through its intervention force-ECOWAS Cease-Fire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG).

Since, the first ECOWAS intervention in Liberal in the 1990s the body has developed an elaborate conflict management framework for dealing with the challenges confronting its area of influence. Though this is a bold attempt by an African institution to address problematic situations in the region, the ECOWAS conflict management framework and its application has been marred by several challenges. For example, ECOWAS interventions have been characterised by a host of controversies including lack of United Nations Security Council authorization to enforce peace, weakness in decision making, accusations of hegemony by Nigeria, and so on. In addition, because of the dynamic nature of conflicts in the region, there is a need for a reassessment of established framework to be able to meet up with new and emerging challenges.

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