Seven West African countries, out of the eight required, have so far ratified the ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms, Light Weapons, their ammunition and other associated materials and deposited their instruments of ratification at the ECOWAS Commission. The seven countries include Burkina Faso, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Togo.

Subsequently, just one more ratification is needed to facilitate the eagerly-awaited transformation of the 1998 ECOWAS Moratorium on Light Weapons into a legally-binding instrument. Guinea Conakry and Liberia have ratified but are yet to deposit their instruments. With any luck one of these countries would deposit their instruments at the ECOWAS Commission by the end of August 2009. The Convention would then fully come into force three years after it has been signed by ECOWAS Heads of States and Governments.

The ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms, Light Weapons, their Ammunition and other Associated Materials was signed in June 2006 to replace the ECOWAS Moratorium on the Importation, Exportation and Manufacture of Light Weapons. An evaluation report carried out in 2002 by independent experts revealed a number of weaknesses that led to the breach of the Moratorium. Principally its voluntary nature resulted in Lack of sanctioning; in addition states lacked the capacity to effectively implement the Moratorium. This led to the transformation from the Moratorium to a legally binding instrument which all West African states would be obliged to adhere to.