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Journalism of Courage
The Economic Community of West African States,better known as ECOWAS,has a notoriously tricky job. The 15-country club must,among other things,promote democracy in a region blighted by military coups and big men who rarely wish to cede power. Four of its members have suffered civil wars in the past 20 years; only Cape Verde and Senegal have never had a coup since independence. Yet,especially compared with Africas other such clubs,ECOWAS is doing a pretty good job.
Guinea and Niger,two resource-rich but coup-prone countries,have recently provided big tests. In the first case ECOWAS rose to the challenge. Last month Guineas junta finally handed over power to a transitional government after a concerted squeeze by ECOWAS,other African countries and the West. ECOWAS had taken the lead,holding talks with the soldiers and pro-democracy groups since October. It had also suspended Guinea from the club and had put sanctions on the regime of Captain Moussa Dadis Camara,who seized power in 2008 after the death of General Lansana Conté,a dictator who had run the show for 24 years.
ECOWAS concedes it can achieve little on its own. Its sanctions are largely symbolic. Many of its members still rely financially on their old colonial masters and,increasingly,on resource-hungry emerging powers. In 2008 China signed a deal worth 5 billion to pump Nigers oil.
To compensate for its lack of economic clout,ECOWAS has learnt to work in tandem with beefier bodies and countries,raising the alarm when it spots danger on the horizon. Guineas junta started to fall apart only after the slaughter of at least 150 demonstrators in September provoked an international outcry. In Niger it was ECOWASs alliance with the AU and the West that made things shift. The Southern African Development Community SADC,another regional club of 15 countries,which has been so feeble over Zimbabwe,could learn a trick or two from ECOWAS.
The clubs Achilles heel is Nigeria,Africas most populous country. Its economy is twice as big as the other members combined. The clubs headquarters is in Nigeria,which,on some counts,provides a third of the cash for Ecowas and a big chunk of its peacekeeping troops.
But this makes it hard for the other ECOWAS members to criticise Nigeria. Umaru YarAdua,the countrys ailing president,has not been seen in public for almost four months,yet refuses to hand over the running of the country fully to Goodluck Jonathan,his deputy. Militants recently planted bombs outside local-government offices in Nigerias oil-producing region,and hundreds were killed earlier this month in ethnic violence in the countrys central area. Yet,when it comes to dealing with Nigerias flaws,Ecowas is strangely absent, says Alex Vines of Chatham House,a British think-tank.
