USAID/WARP seeks to remedy or mitigate two of the most harmful and intractable problems that hinder the full social and economic development of the ECOWAS region – corruption and conflict.  The conflict prevention and anti-corruption program tackles the regional aspects of these issues by working with those regional and sub-regional organizations that deal with conflict and through joint-programming with U.S. Embassies and other USAID missions in cross-border conflict sites.

For the past two decades internal and cross-border conflicts have severely disrupted West African social and economic development.  The states of the Mano River Union – Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone- have been embroiled in civil wars that have had a negative impact on their neighbors for more than a decade while factions within Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire have, from time to time, sought to further their own ends by becoming involved. Conflict over the Casamance region has intermittently engaged The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, and Senegal for the past decade, while the oil-rich Becasi Peninsula has been the source of conflict between Cameroon and Nigeria for an equal length of time.  More often than not, corruption has played a key role in fomenting and prolonging these conflicts. Regional wars are commonly financed by the illegal sale of arms or the illicit extraction of high value natural resources such as diamonds, gold, and timber. In many of these cases, the involvement of one state in another’s conflict, the widespread migration of the victims of war, and the struggle over resources have necessitated a regional or sub-regional approach to resolving, mitigating or preventing conflict.

The commitment of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to preventing conflict is underscored by the Protocol on Conflict Prevention signed by all 15 member countries in 1975. In December 1999 a milestone was reached when ECOWAS promulgated a Code of Conduct for the Implementation of a moratorium on importation, exportation and manufacture of weapons in West Africa. This was the first attempt at such a moratorium in the region. While ECOWAS has a history of successful peacekeeping in the region, the Office of the Deputy Secretary for Political Affairs, Defense and Security is now staffing up to take on a conflict management role as well. It has also established the institutional framework for a Conflict Prevention Mechanism that consists of four Observation and Monitoring Centers in Benin, Burkina Faso, Liberia and the Gambia and a Coordinating Office in Nigeria. ECOWAS is thus a key partner for USAID/WARP in the conflict prevention arena.

USAID/WARP’s objective for this program is to strengthen ECOWAS’ capacity to mediate and prevent conflicts in the region. This will be achieved by:

Developing an ECOWAS early detection and response mechanism to prevent or mitigate regional conflicts;

Strengthening t he capacity of regional civil society organizations to participate in conflict detection and response;

Disseminating lessons learned and best practices that have successfully prevented or mitigated conflict, or promoted the transition from conflict to democratic governance.

Modifications to the strategic plan are underway to better incorporate our new work on anti-corruption.

Current conflict prevention activities include:

WARP works with ECOWAS to strengthen its capacity to undertake conflict prevention and mitigation activities by assisting the development of its conflict early warning system, providing training in planning, analytical and management skills, and furnishing computer equipment.

WARP’s current partner in this activity is the West Africa Network for Peace building (WANEP). WARP is funding WANEP to provide technical assistance and training to strengthen this nascent network and other national and regional peace building NGO’s to effectively monitor the region for signs of upcoming conflicts and provide effective responses to prevent and mitigate conflict. For further information, click here.

In collaboration with bilateral USAID Missions and U.S. Embassies in the region, WARP developed two activities that seek to recreate the conditions for peace in border communities. A consortium of NGOs provides a response to some of the impacts of the wars in the Mano River Union by assisting the victims of violence in the cross-border areas of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. For further information, click here. Peace in the Casamance areas of The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, and Senegal is promoted through grassroots level work with communities and NGOs.   For further information, click here.

WARP tackles this issue on two levels. Implementing partners work to reach communities and NGOs in the cross-border area of Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, and Mali to prevent trafficking of children while technical assistance is provided, in collaboration with ECOWAS, under the auspices of the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to help national governments update their Action Plans for tackling this crime. For further information, click here.

WARP works with a range of partners representing international and regional organizations, international and local NGOs, and community-based organizations. The major partners are ECOWAS, the United National Office of Drugs & Crime (UNODC), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), WANEP, Catholic Relief Services, Adventist Relief Association (Guinea Bissau - Casamance), Center for Victims of Torture (Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea), Concern Universal (Gambia - Casamance), International Rescue Committee (Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea), Population Media Center (Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast), Search for Common Ground (Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea).

An annual Technical Advisory Group meeting guides WARP in its programming with USAID missions and U.S. Embassies in the region.