The Role of the ECOWAS
in Resolving Conflicts in West Africa

The scientific importance of this is attributed to the importance of the intervention of the sub-organizations n the settlement process, especially in light of the now global system and regional concept which refers to the importance of settlement in a regional framework, in addition to the then weak role of the organization of African Unity (OAU) in the settlement process.

This study also contributes to defining the relation between the continent's regional security and the sub-regional security, especially in light of the diminishing role of the continental regional security in favor of the sub-regional security.

Selecting the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as a study pattern in the settlement process refers to many considerations as follows:

1- The ECOWAS is the first African sub-organization that performed an important role concerning the emerging conflicts inside the member states.

2- The ECOWAS is the first organization that depended on various settlement methods, including the military settlement and sending peacekeeping forces while imposing peace at the same time, the matter that did not previously exist in sub-organizations.

3- Studying the role of the ECOWAS in the settlement process and resolving conflicts could offer a useful experience for the decision makers in the other sub-organizations. The Common Market for East and South Africa (COMESA) is the latest organization that benefited from this study.

This study answered many questions, salient of which are as follows:

What is the reason behind the ECOWAS's interest in the security aspects?

What are the major political and legal problems that are related to the concept of the organization's intervention in the settlement process?

What are the methods and forms of settlement?

What are the political and military efforts of the ECOWAS in settling these conflicts?

What are the results of these organizations' intervention in the settlement process?

In an attempt to answer the previous questions, the researcher depended on several assumptions:

1- The decline of international interest to resolve African conflicts, especially the interior ones by the end of the cold war, had contributed to pushing the sub-regional organizations in Africa towards engaging in such conflicts.

2- The existence of a leader state in the sub-organization will help in the organization's engagement in the settlement process, including the military one.

3- The effectiveness of the sub-organization in resolving conflicts is based on many elements as follows:

a- Political will.
b- Providing necessary finance.
c- Logistic support.
d- Foreign support

4- The more the organization is capable of managing crises, the less it depends and coordinates with the UN and vise versa.

5- The ability of the sub-organization in effectively settling conflicts is still limited in general.
This study is divided into six chapters and a conclusion as follows:

Chapter One: includes the theoretical framework of the study as it tackles the concepts used by the researcher. It also tackles the application aspects of such concepts.

Chapter Two: talks about the security protocols and the defensive structures of the organization until 1990 (before Liberia war).

Chapter Three-Six: concentrates on the four cases of conflict where the organization had interfered in, not only through peaceful settlement means, but also through the military settlement means, including sending its troupes to resolve conflicts in Liberia, Sirloin, Guinea, Bissau and Cote d'Ivoire.

The conclusion includes a summary to the major results revealed in this study.
First: Major Results Mentioned in the Study

1- The concept of conflict resolving is different from that of conflict settlement. The former refers to addressing the roots of the conflict itself, while the latter refers to reaching a settlement for any aspect of the conflict, through the various settlement means (peaceful and military).

2- the ECOWAS interest in the security aspect is related to her recognition that the economic development and integration will only be achieved in a stable environment, thus the 1978 and 1981 Protocols that concentrated on the narrow aspects of security were signed, but in the early 1990s, the concept of security began to take wider dimensions so as to cope with the global and international changes.

3- In comparison with the economic aspect, the security aspect became the most prominent activity for the ECOWAS. This is the result of the internal conflicts on one hand, and the political differences among the member states on the other hand, thus impeding the economic integration and giving the security aspect the utmost priority.

4- The ECOWAS is considered the first African sub-organization to apply the collective defense system in the continent, thus reflecting its role in settling conflicts in four states.

It is also noticeable that a great number of such organizations used to depend on the political, rather than the military settlement, as their troupes are, in most cases, not ready for intervention, especially in crises.

5- Despite the ECOWAS was a pioneer in applying the collective defense system, yet it lacked the institutional structures, as the case in 1981 Protocol. This was apparent in Liberia crisis that highlighted the deficiency of the institutional aspect.

6- The ECOWAS worked on avoiding the negative aspects of its defense structures before 1990 through the revised treaty, 1993, as most of the main measures concerning the regional intervention were included in Article 58.

Such measures gave the state the right to work together to preserve peace and security according to the collective defense system.

 Furthermore, a Protocol that included primary and secondary structures was signed on December 10, 1999.

Although some structures were not completed such as the early alert system, yet this mechanism is considered much better, to a great extent, than the previous ones.

 Thus we can say that peace operations before 1999 were taking place according to the Old Testament, while the peacekeeping operations after the existence of the new mechanism belongs to the New Testament.

Second: Examining the Considerations
Concerning the retreat of the international interest in interfering to resolve conflicts, especially the internal ones by the end of the cold war, pushed the sub-regional organizations in Africa to interfere to settle these conflicts because the international negligence to the African conflict or paying further attention to resolving other non-African conflicts, led the sub-regional organizations, especially in light of the weak settlement efforts, to interfere to settle such conflicts.

The second assumption refers to the fact that the limited role of the OAU in resolving conflicts had led the sub-organizations interfere in order to settle conflicts.

The third assumption is concerned with the existence of a leadership state in the sub-organizations and its impact on the effectiveness of the organizations in the settlement process.

 The effectiveness of the Nigerian role in the Liberian conflict had pushed the organization to impose peace and not only preserve it, and consequently force some rebels to sit on the negotiation table.

The fourth assumption says that the effective role of the ECWAS in the settlement process is governed by many factors; available political will, necessary finance, logistic support and foreign security and that there is a positive relationship between all these variables.

The fifth assumption which emphasized the existence of an adverse relationship between the availability of the self-potentials of the organization on settling and coordinating with the UN had also proved to be true. The more the armament, finance and logistic capabilities are provided to the organization, the less it depends on the UN.

The sixth assumption which is concerned with the limited role of the ECWAS in resolving conflicts in comparison with the UN role had also proved to be true as most of the ECWAS operations had ended with the UN intervention to settle the conflict and the ECOWAS had only a subordinate role.

 This assumption imposes a query about the future of the ECOWAS in the settlement process.

What are the proposed scenarios in this respect?

First: The UN had played an alternative role in the settlement.

Second: the ECOWAS had played an alternative role in the settlement.

Third: the ECOWAS played a complementary role beside the UN in the settlement.

It seems that the third scenario is the closest to reality during the coming period due to difficulty that will face the sub-regional organizations, or rather all the regional organizations, in performing the peacekeeping operations alone.