ECOWAS (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 - IR)

Context: West African leaders will discuss Niger after the junta that seized power there on July 26 defied a deadline to reinstate the ousted president or face the threat of military intervention.

• The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which has sent military forces into troubled member states in the past, had told the junta to stand down, but coup leaders instead closed Niger's airspace and pledged to defend the country.

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

• About: It is a regional political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. 
• Origin: The union was established on 28 May 1975, with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos, with its stated mission to promote economic integration across the region.
• A revised version of the treaty was agreed and signed on 24 July 1993 in Cotonou.
• Objectives: Considered one of the pillar regional blocs of the continent-wide African Economic Community (AEC), the stated goal of ECOWAS is to achieve "collective self-sufficiency" for its member states by creating a single large trade bloc by building a full economic and trading union. 
• ECOWAS also serves as a peacekeeping force in the region, with member states occasionally sending joint military forces to intervene in the bloc's member countries at times of political instability and unrest.