Exposition of the Principle of Collective Security Under the ECOWAS Treaty of 1993

The Economic Community of West African States known as the ECOWAS Treaty was first established in 1975 with the aim of creating an economic union in the West African sub-region similar to the European Economic Union (EEU) to foster the development of trade, commerce and investment in different economic perspectives. As time goes by, several challenges were encountered such as political, economic and socio-cultural instabilities. These necessitated the need to amend the ECOWAS Protocols which was done under the ECOWAS Treaty of 1993 to address the new situation particularly on security issues. The conflicts in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cote d'Voire and Mali are good examples. These political, economic and social upheavals undermined the main aims and objectives of the ECOWAS Treaty. It is based on this background that it was considered necessary to expand ECOWAS mandate to include matters on collective security in addition to the economic objectives under the ECOWAS Treaty of 19931. In this vain, we shall consider different aspects of these ECOWAS protocols by examining in particular, the issues of collective security under the ECOWAS articles, mandates, the legal provisions and case laws where applicable.