WEST Africa was in the news during the months of march and April as coups pushed the region to the brink of chaos. But this time the region pushed back.
　　mali’s Captain Amadou Haya Sanog led a section of disgruntled soldiers to seize power in his country. Then, it was guinea-Bissau’s turn. Bissau-guinean military men engineered a revolt that toppled that country’s civilian government.
　　Both coups were similar in the way they occurred just three weeks before each country’s elections and it looked as though democracy had been strangled at the 11th hour.
　　But the Economic Community of West African States(ECoWAS), the regional bloc, intervened, condemning the two incidents, imposing sanctions and ordering the rule of law to prevail.
　　mali quickly accepted the terms and allowed for a transitional government to be formed before elections within a year. This is despite various further incidents of violence in the country.
　　Weeks later, guinea-Bissau reluctantly followed suit. Former Prime minister and front-runner in the runoff Carlos gomes Junior and interim President Raimundo Pereira were released and allowed to seek safety in Cote d’ivoire.
　　The release followed an extraordinary summit by ECoWAS, in which they announced the deployment of a military force to guinea-Bissau and gave the junta three days to toe the line.
　　Ecowas proactive
　　 ivorian President Alassane ouattara, the current Chair of ECoWAS, told reporters the organization would be firm in responding to the instability “to prevent our sub-region from giving into terrorism and transnational criminality.”
　　A communiqué released after the talks attended by 15 heads of member states and governments in Abidjan on April 26, condemned the coup and “the disruption of the presidential electoral process, as well as the detention of the Prime minister and the interim President by the Junta.”
　　guinea-Bissau was suspended from the bloc until it shows the will to end the crisis.
　　“The authority reaffirms the fundamental principle of ‘zero tolerance’ for power obtained or maintained by unconstitutional means, as well as the role of the military in a democracy as enshrined in the supplementary Protocol on Democracy and good governance,” they said in their 33-point resolution.
　　However, Bissau-guinean coup plotters who had earlier accepted the conditions of ECoWAS later changed tack: They wanted the national Transitional Council they had created to be replaced after two years, not one. ECoWAS was not amused, and member states quickly convened another extraordinary summit in Dakar, Senegal on may 3.
　　“The summit hereby decides to maintain the sanctions imposed until such a time that all the protagonists accept the modalities for a return to constitutional order,” they agreed after the summit.
　　in another dispatch, ECoWAS said it remained “seized with the situation in guinea-Bissau” and maintained its previous decision of one year in which guinea-Bissau is supposed to get back on track through review of laws related to elections as well as the Constitution in what the community said would achieve “greater efficiency.”
　　ECoWAS Standby Force would also be sent to guineaBissau to “assist in securing the transitional process, and undertake preparatory work for the immediate implementation of the roadmap for the Defence and Security Sector Reform Program (DSSRP).”
　　The sanctions included suspending guinea-Bissau from ECoWAS, banning the military leadership from traveling, conducting business, receiving financial assistance or representing guinea-Bissau in regional matters. Further, ECoWAS warned it might seek the international Criminal Court’s hand to prosecute military leaders.
　　Tough legacy
　　 This kind of response is slowly becoming the trademark of the West African alliance. When a group of soldiers in mali unseated a democratic government in that country, less than two months before the end of its tenure, ECoWAS did the same.
　　The organization condemned the junta, suspended mali as a member and imposed sanctions. Quickly, a transitional civil government was formed while elections are organized within the next year. For an organization formed 37 years ago, it has seen such incidents almost every year within the region.
　　only Senegal among ECoWAS members has not had a military coup since independence. guinea-Bissau has had at least six coups since independence in 1974. The recent one followed inconclusive elections to replace President Bacai Sanha, who died in January.
　　Just two years ago, a defeated president in Cote d’ivoire, laurent gbagbo refused to concede to the winner, Alassane ouattara, causing a standoff that lasted for over a year, derailing the country’s economy.
　　The elections were a culmination of a decade-long strife in a country once seen as Africa’s example of stability. ECoWAS had been involved in the peace process including sending mediators.
　　And during the 1990s, the liberian and Sierra leone conflicts saw much of ECoWAS involvement. During that time, member states such as guinea-Bissau, Cote d’ivoire and Sierra leone had to shoulder the burden of refugees. Recent interven- tions in niger and guinea-Bissau have also been witnessed.
　　 Regional resolve
　　 originally, ECoWAS was formed to help integrate economic policies of the region and avoid the effects of the cold war. So why has it taken a firm stand on the way transitions occur within its jurisdiction?
　　“The regionalized ‘internal’ conflicts threatened to derail the original economic agenda of ECoWAS,” observes Abdelfatau musah in his essay, ECoWAS and the Regional Responses to Conflict. musah is also the political director of ECoWAS. ECoWAS sees peace as an incentive to investments, especially from foreigners.
　　A report published last year by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, a german organization, showed that ECoWAS member states now see it as a “common task” to avoid re-emergence of conflicts in the region.
　　“The unanimity and resoluteness with which ECoWAS has condemned and applied sanctions for the most recent violations of the regional protocols is remarkable,” it said, commending the suspensions of rogue members.
　　“member states have taken a clear stance against the military juntas and have insisted that power be handed over to a democratically legitimated government.”
　　Some analysts argue that the recent success rate of ECoWAS to quell possible strife within its borders provides a good hand for the African Union to help the continent deal with its own problems without external interference.
　　“The reality of contemporary international politics is that regional and sub-regional organizations are much better placed and suited to intervene to resolve crisis in their neighborhoods,” Professor Alade Fawole of international Relations at the obafemi owolowo University (nigeria) told ChinAfrica.
　　“Apart from familiarity with the political terrain, sub-regional organizations may also command greater respect and acceptability than say the Un. ECoWAS is doing fine, promptly responding to serial crises and taking effective political and diplomatic measures, even military actions in a few cases.”
　　The current ECoWAS involvement in West Africa and its successes provide a yardstick with which to measure the organization’s prowess. Should the protagonists persist with the conflict, the West African alliance said it would instruct its commission to seek assistance from the AU or even the Un to handle the matter.