West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU)

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.