Conseil de l'Entente
The Conseil de l'Entente is a West African regional co-operation forum established in May 1959 by Ivory Coast, Niger, Upper Volta and Dahomey, and joined in 1966 by Togo.
The body grew out of the short-lived Sahel-Benin Union, itself created by the four original Council members as a partial successor to the dissolved French regional colonial federation of French West Africa.
Since 1966 the Council has possessed a permanent administrative Secretariat based in Abidjan, the largest city of Ivory Coast. A Mutual Aid and Loan Guarantee Fund exists to assist poorer members from a common pool.
