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The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the United Nations have strengthened their cooperation on disarmament and arms control with a new agreement to address illicit weapons flows and emerging security threats across the region.
The ECOWAS Commission and the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), through its Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa (UNREC), signed an addendum to their 2009 Memorandum of Understanding on August 21 at the ECOWAS headquarters in Abuja.
ECOWAS said the agreement would strengthen cooperation on “disarmament, arms control, non-proliferation, and armed conflict prevention in the ECOWAS Region.”
The signing followed an ECOWAS-UNODA Strategic Dialogue on “Enhancing Cooperation Between ECOWAS Commission and UNODA/UNREC on Regional Disarmament, Peace and Security.”
According to ECOWAS, the dialogue brought together senior officials and technical experts from the three institutions to assess the region’s changing security environment and identify opportunities for stronger institutional and operational cooperation.
The renewed partnership follows persistent security challenges across West Africa, including terrorism, banditry, intercommunal violence and the illicit circulation of small arms and light weapons.
ECOWAS has long identified the proliferation and trafficking of small arms and light weapons as a major threat to regional peace and stability.
Its Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons seeks to prevent illicit manufacturing, trafficking and excessive accumulation of such weapons.
The focus of the cooperation has also expanded beyond traditional small arms threats.
During an earlier UNODA-ECOWAS strategic dialogue in 2025, officials identified illicit arms flows, improvised explosive devices, drones, artificial intelligence and cyber-enabled trafficking among emerging security challenges requiring greater regional cooperation.
The 2025 discussions also considered updating the 2009 memorandum to reflect current security realities and strengthening implementation of the ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons.
UNODA said at the time that cooperation with ECOWAS would include support for national institutions, stronger legal frameworks and technical capacity to combat illicit arms proliferation.
The latest addendum therefore builds on efforts underway to make the region’s arms-control framework more responsive to changing forms of insecurity.
The renewed ECOWAS-UN cooperation is expected to provide a broader framework for regional action on arms control, disarmament and conflict prevention as West African countries confront increasingly complex security threats.
ECOWAS COMMISSION AND UNODA/UNREC SIGN ADDENDUM TO STRENGTHEN COOPERATION ON DISARMAMENT AND ARMS CONTROL
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)Commission and the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA)/United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and… pic.twitter.com/tnZ9UBoHKf
— Ecowas – Cedeao (@ecowas_cedeao) August 23, 2026
