Ecomog and Conflict Resolution in West Africa: a Study of the Linkage Between Economic Integration and Regional Security

This research work studied the Economic Community of West African States Cease-Fire Monitoring Group?s (ECOMOG?s) experience, against the backdrop of regional security and conflict resolution in West Africa. It tried to establish a relationship between economic integration of ECOWAS and the resolution of regional conflict in West Africa. In other words, it attempted to establish an understanding of the prospects, possibilities and limitations of using an economic integration body, like ECOWAS as a mechanism for conflict resolution and how this exercise was able to affect economic development and the integration process in West Africa. We adopted case study design, which allowed a comparative treatment of two or more cases in order to verify ideas and their relationships. In this regard, the study also compared ECOMOG operations in both Liberia and Sierra Leone, and the alternative resolution mechanism provided by MERCOSUR?the Southern Cone Common Market, which shares similar objectives, principles and purposes with ECOWAS.