West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU)

Union Economique et Monétaire Ouest Africaine (UEMOA)

Member States

Founding members

Other members

Headquarters

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Date of creation

10 January 1994

Objectives

The main objective of WAEMU is to build a harmonised and integrated economic space in west Africa, within which is guaranteed total freedom of movement of people, capital, goods, services, and factors of production.

Timeline

1962 Creation of West African Monetary Union (Union monétaire ouest africaine – UMOA)
1994 Founding of WAEMU attached to the UMOA – the two organisations continue toco-exist.
2012 Creation of the High-level Committee on the Implementation of the “Peace and Security Workshop in the WAEMU space”
2017 Proposal to create the WAEMU monitoring and early warning mechanism (Mécanisme de veille et d’alerte précoce – MeVap)

Normative framework

1994 Signature of Constitutive Act
2003 Revised Treaty
2013 Additional act establishing the WAEMU common policy on peace and security
2016 Adoption of WAEMU Peace and Security Action Plan
2018 Security and intelligence cooperation framework agreement between WAEMU member states

Activities

Political dialogue

Date Institutions Agreement
2011 UN General Assembly WAEMU gains observer status
2011 Liptako Gourma Authority (LGA) MoU [Accord de cooperation] between WAEMU and LGA
2013 ECOWAS, LGA, Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS),  Niger Basin Authority (ABN), African Center of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD) Signing of the Agreement establishing the Framework for Consultation, Cooperation and Partnership between West African Intergovernmental Organizations [Protocole d’accord portant creation du cadre de concertation, de cooperation et de partenariat entre les organisations intergouvernementales de l’Afrique de l’Ouest]
2014 ECOWAS Signing of an agreement setting out the arrangements for cooperation between ECOWAS and WAEMU
2018 ECOWAS Signing of Memorandum of Understanding between ECOWAS and WAEMU for conflict and crisis prevention in west Africa

Governance and development

Areas Date Activities
Border management 2005 Deployment of mixed border patrols to control main roads

Peace and security

Activity  Date Description
Prevention of violent extremism 2019 Financial contribution from WAEMU ($500m) to combat terrorism
Early warning Initially scheduled on 2020 but postponed Establishment of monitoring and early warning mechanism for combating the terrorist threat and strengthening peace and security, notably by commitment of local elected people.