ABIDJAN, Oct 26 (AFP) - The west African regional grouping ECOWAS announced Saturday it has decided to send a force of 2,000 troops from nine countries to Ivory Coast to monitor a week-old ceasefire. "The first deployment should come in 10 to 15 days, according to an agreed calendar," the executive secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Mohamed Ibn Chambas said. The announcement came after a meeting of foreign ministers from the 15-nation bloc. The force will be commanded by an officer from the country which makes the greatest contribution of troops to the force, most likely Senegal, Chambas said. Countries sending troops to join the force are Benin, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo. Exactly how many troops, and how much money each nation will contribute still has to be decided. The force will also have a civilian official from Nigeria, Chambas said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~