March 9, 2004ImmediatePrime Minister Paul Martin and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today witnessed the signing of an agreement between the Government of Canada and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for peace and security initiatives. The agreement was signed by Aileen Carroll, Minister for International Cooperation, and ECOWAS Executive Secretary Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas."ECOWAS has an important role to play in helping to defuse crises and bring stability to countries emerging from conflicts in West Africa," said the Prime Minister. "Canada's support to ECOWAS underscores our commitment to a full partnership with Africans on regional peace and security issues, to enhancing African capacity to anticipate, manage and resolve conflicts and to minimizing the effects of conflict on individuals and communities."A $4.5 million contribution by Canada over three years to the ECOWAS Peace Fund will support conflict prevention, crisis management and peacebuilding activities, and will contribute to a scholarship fund that will enable West African civilians and military personnel to benefit from training for peace support operations at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, in Ghana.The project will also help ECOWAS establish a unit that will work to stop the flow of small weapons into and across borders in these countries. Finally, it will help create a mission planning and management unit that will monitor the security situation in the region, advise leaders on possible courses of action, and plan and manage peace support operations like the recent ECOWAS missions in Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia.This initiative is part of the Canada-West Africa Peace and Security Initiative, which was announced at the G8 Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta in June 2002 as part of the Canada Fund for Africa. The Fund is intended to support the objectives of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the G8 Africa Action Plan.ECOWAS comprises 15 member states, and is the principal organization mandated to address regional peace and security in West Africa. ECOWAS aims to promote cooperation and development in economic, social and cultural activity, particularly in the fields for which specialized commissions are appointed to raise the standard of living of the people of the member countries.-30-Additional information is attached.BACKGROUNDFounded in 1975 with an initial mandate to promote economic cooperation and integration, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) includes 15 West African countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. ECOWAS has since taken on the additional mandate to prevent, manage and support the resolution of conflicts in the region. It is under this mandate that the organization has played a mediating role and mounted peacekeeping operations in a number of West African countries, most recently in Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.ECOWAS is working towards the establishment of a free-trade zone and a common external tariff, as well as the creation of common currency by 2005. An ECOWAS Parliament, made up of 120 parliamentarians nominated by their respective countries, and an ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, mandated to adjudicate disputes relating to the interpretation and application of the ECOWAS treaty, began operating in 2001.At their Summit in Yamassoukro, Côte d'Ivoire, in May 2002, ECOWAS Heads of State and Government designated ECOWAS as the regional organization responsible for the coordination and monitoring of the implementation of New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) programs in West Africa.Ghana's President John Kufuor assumed the 1-year rotating presidency of ECOWAS in January 2003 (he was re-elected for a second term in December 2003), and has played a lead mediating role in the conflicts in Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia.Canadian Support to ECOWASThrough the Canada-West Africa Peace and Security Initiative - PSI (under the Canada Fund for Africa), Canada is contributing $4.5 million over 3 years to enhance ECOWAS' capacity to manage peace support operations, to support the creation of a regional small arms unit within ECOWAS, and to assist in the creation of a scholarship fund to facilitate regional participation in peacekeeping training at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra.Canada is already providing some $3 million through the PSI for the Kofi Annan Centre, which officially opened in January 2004. The Pearson Peacekeeping Centre is the implementing partner for that project.The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has provided $460,000 under a separate envelope to ECOWAS in their role as coordinator of NEPAD initiatives for West Africa, for projects to strengthen the institutional capacity of the ECOWAS Secretariat.The Department of National Defence has facilitated linkages between ECOWAS and the multinational Standby High Readiness Brigade (SHIRBRIG) which is available for United Nations peace support operations.
