The West African bloc ECOWAS is being challenged more than ever before, the president of its commission says in Abuja where foreign ministers from the region have come for emergency talks to hammer out a response to a major political crisis in Senegal and the announcement by three coup-hit countries of their withdrawal from the bloc. "These unfolding events in the region are posing challenges that risk threatening stability in our countries," says Omar Alieu Touray, ECOWAS Commission President. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES