Toward a pax west Africana: Building peace in a Troubled Sud region

* The Economic of West African States (ECOWAS) has made various attempts to tackle the recurrence and emergence of news conflicts in its sub-region. With the ECOWAS Cease-fire Monitoring Group's (ECOMOG) unprecedented interventions in the 1990s in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea-Bissau, the international community witnessed a major evolution in inter-African affairs. The ECOMOG interventions marked an important turning point in the practice of peacekeeping by regional and sub-regional organizations in Africa. * In recognition of the need to consolidate its decade-long peacekeeping experience, ECOWAS is in the process of establishing a security mechanism. However, while ECOWAS has been praised for its numerous military and diplomatic efforts to stem the tide of conflicts in West Africa, supporters and opponents alike have concluded that ECOWAS still has a long way to go if it is to fulfil the objectives it set for itself under its Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution, Peacekeeping and Security which it established in December 1999. Some of the observations that emerged from the IPA/ECOWAS seminar held in Abuja,Nigeria, on 27-29 September 2001, included the following:* A major obstacle to peace and stability in West Africa is the lack of viable systems of governance and democratisation at all levels of society. In fact, the link between security, democratisation and governance is made more explicit by the increasing demand by ordinary people for a more people-centered approach to security rather than the traditional focus on regime survival. Hence, human security, with specific attention focused on the right of the individual to live in peace and to satisfy his/her basic needs, should at least share equal status with traditional concerns with the security of the state. * In West Africa, security forces (policies, military, paramilitary and intelligence) still remain a source of great insecurity. These forces often mete out indiscriminate violence against civilians and undermine efforts to achieve good governance and development. A key challenge is how to ensure democratic control of security forces and those responsible for their management and oversight (particularly the executive, finance ministries and relevant parliamentary committees.* The role of ECOWAS in promoting good governance and democratisation is paramount to building peace in West Africa. Of critical importance in this regard will be how the organization integrates the needs for accountable government and the rights of citizens to be protected from autocratic regimes with the sanctity of state sovereignty. Directly related to this issue, is the increasing concern, particularly expressed by civil society actors, that ECOWAS has become complicated with a culture of impunity by overlooking issues of justice in peace agreements signed to end conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone. These accords granted amnesty to faction fighters for war crimes and atrocities in exchange for cooperation implementing peace agreements. The consequence of such accords is that some of these former warlords have become presidents, while others have become ministers, affording them an opportunity to continue exploiting their countries wealth and spreading instability across their borders. * Over the last decade, the role of civil society has become critical in shaping the discourse on resolving West Africa's security dilemmas. Civil society groups have played an important role in efforts to develop a security mechanism, especially the emphasis on creating a more coherent and strategic outlook in developing a coordinated response to conflicts in West Africa . Furthermore, various local civil society actors have contributed to democratisation efforts throughout the subregion in the 1990s. However, ECOWAS governments and civil society actors remain suspicious of each over. These suspicions can be dissipated through closer collaboration.