EFFECTIVENESS OF ECOWAS CONFLICT RESOLUTION MECHANISM IN RESOLVING POST 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN THE GAMBIA

Abstract

Mediation and other forms of conflict resolution approaches including intervention has always been a priority for the ECOWAS sub-regional bloc in setting sub-regional conflicts. ECOWAS has within its mechanism, protocol on Conflict Management, Resolution, Security and Peacekeeping, protocol on Good Governance and Democracy and Framework on Conflict Prevention and Election Monitoring. It is within these mechanisms that ECOWAS intervened in the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone. ECOWAS dispatched a mission to gather facts and assess the level of preparedness of The Gambia in holding credible elections of December 2016. After the December presidential elections and the subsequent post-election dispute, ECOWAS launched a Military intervention (ECOMIG) as a last resort to restore democracy and ensure the stability of the country when all other peaceful means turned futile. This study adopted the Bargaining Theory of Coercion as a theoretical framework to examining ECOWAS engagement in resolving the country’s constitutional crisis. The findings in the study were centered on the researcher’s personal direct experience of the conflict, reviewing secondary publications, including books, journals, newspaper, internet sources and other relevant ECOWAS and UN instruments. The study concluded with providing recommendation to ECOWAS and The Gambia on discussions that could tackle the growing insecurity, such as the reemergence of coup d’état, electoral conflicts and terrorism that the West African sub-region continues to battle with. Key Words: ECOWAS, Conflict resolution, Coercive diplomacy, Mechanism, bargaining theory