Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
It should be noted that in Africa, Mali is going through a state of political crisis, so recently the Economic Community of West African States- (ECOWAS) has been trying to resolve the crisis of the West African country of Mali.
‘Mali’ crisis
- Mali became an independent country from France in the year 1960, but since then, there has been 5 times coup in Mali. There has been a peaceful transfer of power from a democratically elected President to another President only once.
- A few months ago in Mali, there were massive antigovernmental demonstrations that resulted in the ouster of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta.
- Recently a new cabinet was also announced in Mali that did not include two prominent military leaders. After this, the army has taken the President and the Prime Minister into custody.
About ECOWAS:
- It is a regional political and economic union of 15 countries located in West Africa, which was established in the year 1975 with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos.
- The main goal of this organization is to create a complete economic and trade union and to form a wide business group and to achieve “collective self-sufficiency” for its member countries.
- ECOWAS also acts as a peacekeeping force in the region. The African Economic Community (AEC) covers the entire continent. ECOWAS is considered one of the regional groups of the ‘African Economic Group’.
- ECOWAS consists of two sub-regional blocs, the first being the ‘West African Economic and Monetary Union’, which is primarily an organization of 8 French-speaking countries, and the second ‘established in the year 2000’, The West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) is comprised of six predominantly English-speaking countries.
Source – The Hindu
