West Africa has an estimated eight million illicit small arms in circulation. The uncontrolled proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW) fuelled codicts in West Africa, galvanizing member states of the Economic Cornunity sf West african States (ECOWAS) to adopt measures to bring sanity to bear on the security situation in West Africa. Any discussion of the dynamics of conflict should accordingly look at the snlall arms factor in the many conflicts that plagued the subregion. The research examines all the initiatives that ECOWAS deployed to combat SALW in West Africa - the Moratorium Declaration, arms embargoes, and arms collection and destruction. ECOWAS anti-proliferation efforts began in 1998 with the signing of the Moratorium Declaration in 1998 in Abujq Nigeria