The Ecowas Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security Colonel Mahamane Toure has disclosed that 500 millions Dollars West African Gas Pipeline Project which is designed to transport affordable and cleaner energy from Nigeria to Benin, Togo, Ghana and eventually to other West African States will be commissioned this year.

Col. Mahamane Toure was speaking at an experts meeting which was organized by ECOWAS at the Paradise Suite Hotel in Banjul from 24 to 28 June, 2007 and jointly supported by DANIDA to look into the draft Conflict Prevention Framework. Col. Toure said with the West African Power (electricity) Pool, the initiative demonstrates the abilities of member states to undertake giant projects to underpin greater integration, the creation of jobs and the generation of wealth.

He said similar progress has been made in the fields of Transport, Telecommunications and ICT to promote free movement of persons, goods and services and to boost trade with the community. “Thanks to mutually beneficial public-private partnership, West African Shipping Company, ECO MARINE is now operational, plans and feasibility studies are also far advanced to launch the West African Airlines, ECO AIR and to develop regional road and rail networks,” he said.

Col. Toure further said progress has been made in Agriculture and Rural Development, which constitutes a crucial sector for Regional integration and Economic Development. He stated that in 2005, Heads of States adopted the common ECOWAS Agricultural policy (ECOAP) with a plan of action to burst sustainable food security and the eradication of poverty in the region. The ECOWAS political Affairs Commissioner said Ecowas remains the only region in Africa where citizens of the community do not require a visa to visit any country and all member states are on course to issue a common Ecowas passport to Citizens. He pointed out that the Military Agenda, for a time, over-shadow the economic imperatives of Ecowas Ceasefire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) to intervene in Liberia and Sierra Leone was therefore an act of Absolute necessity dictated by the unfolding realities.

In his opening address, The Secretary of State for Trade, Industry and Employment, Honourable Abdou Colley, said the Ecowas Ceasefire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) was born here in Banjul, The Gambia in the aftermath of the out-break of Civil War in Liberia in 1989 and that The Gambia deployed one of the first contingents for the ECOMOG intervention in Liberia.

On his part, Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, the Former President of The Gambia, who  chaired the meeting, said “the assurance of Peace and security in the sub- region has become sine-qua-non for sustainable development and Human security, just as increasing, integration, depending, democratization and the improvements on the welfare of the population is becoming the cornerstone of peace and security. I am delighted that Ecowas ids striking the right balance between the two, as demonstrated by the purpose of today's meeting.”

Sir Dawda said it has become imperative that the sub region consolidates the peace by fashioning permanent mechanisms for the peaceful management of differences and to prevent tensions from degenerating into open and violent conflict. The Former Gambian President concluded that this meeting in Banjul is convened to further develop Ecowas Strategies Framework for Conflict Prevention, that it is yet another important step in the efforts to erect permanent people oriented structures for the consolidation of Democracy, Peace and Security in the sub-region.

At a press conference, organised as part of the closing ceremony on the 28^th June, 2007, Dr Abdel-Fatau Musah, ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Adviser, indicated that the process of conflict resolution and prevention has over the past years seen some positive developments and challenges. According to him, the Banjul meeting aimed at upgrading several protocols that have been ratified by Member States that are very much within the community. He also said that the workshop comes at a time of growing interest in critical issues relating to conflict prevention and crisis management in the sub-region.

Bearing in mind that all the wars have been contained, he noted that a renewed focus on consolidating peace characterises recent developments. As such, the principle of dialogue will be the bases of the methodology that is going to be used in order to resolve problems peacefully. The intention of this new move is to involve all the stakeholders, including local communities, with a view towards finding solutions to these problems.

In another development, a new synergy will help to put an end to the current crises in the Southern Senegalese region of Casamance, Niger Delta and Northern Niger.

Speaking to journalists, Dr.  Musah said it is high time for all the communities, local groups together with ECOWAS agencies on the ground in Casamance to involve all the people in the process of reconciliation and peace building. According to him, the Casamance crises, been there since independence will be given guidelines under the new ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework as to how some of the approaches can be adopted for such situations in the Sub-region.

He also said that the ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework will be used as a road map, and to the most possible extent, will help to prevent disputes and disaffection from escalating into full blown conflict. He supported the inclusion of civil society for development of peace-building in West Africa, as a critical means to promote peace.

Dr. Musah added that under the conflict prevention framework, ECOWAS seeks to engage all stakeholders within member countries and the decentralised agencies of ECOWAS to build up energy to launch a dialogue in order to resolve any conflict, looked at the causes and see how they can be resolve. “Ecowas works on the basis of consensus and our main methodology in dialogue. We have a firm programme to involve experts from member states in our discussions”, he said. He further revealed that the framework document is divided into fifteen components that identified areas of intervention.