Senior officials from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the European Union (EU), and the German Government convened in Accra on Wednesday, March 11, 2026 for the second high-level steering committee meeting of a major regional peace and security programme, adopting a workplan intended to sharpen West Africa’s response to violent extremism, maritime insecurity, and governance fragility.
The meeting reviewed the first-year performance of the EU Support to ECOWAS in Peace, Security and Governance (EPSG) project, a joint initiative running from 2024 to 2027 with a total budget exceeding 29 million euros. The programme is co-funded by the European Union and Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), with Denmark’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs now joining as an additional contributor. Implementation is carried out through a technical partnership involving the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Expertise France, and the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP).
Opening the session, ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Dr. Abdel-Fatau Musah, used the occasion to challenge the terms on which ECOWAS engages with international partners. He urged participants to consider whether ECOWAS functions as a subject, object, or genuine co-owner within such partnerships, and insisted that project priorities must flow directly from ECOWAS’s own strategic needs rather than be shaped by external agendas. He called specifically for the removal of structural bottlenecks that prevent ECOWAS from accessing direct funding, and identified the activation of the regional counter-terrorism force as a critical priority for confronting violent extremism and maritime insecurity threatening the West African coast and hinterland.
The German and EU representatives, who co-chaired the meeting, reaffirmed their commitment to supporting West African-led solutions. Germany’s delegation underscored the value of a coordinated European approach, while the EU Delegation said the programme’s success would ultimately be judged by tangible improvements in the safety of the region’s citizens. The entry of Denmark as a new contributor was welcomed as a signal of growing international confidence in the programme’s governance framework.
The meeting’s adoption of the 2026 workplan comes at a testing moment for ECOWAS. The bloc is managing the fallout from the departure of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, which formally left the grouping in January 2025, while simultaneously confronting active security crises across its remaining membership. The Accra session signalled that the Commission intends to press ahead with its institutional security architecture despite the strains of the past two years.
