The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has agreed on a plan for a possible intervention in Niger, following the bloc’s failure to restore civilian authority there following last week’s coup.
The junta deposed elected President Mohamed Bazoum in a July 26 coup, the latest in a series of coups in Africa’s Sahel area since 2020.
In response, they were given one week to reinstate him or face the potential use of force.
The military chiefs met in Nigeria’s capital Abuja to discuss ways to respond to the crisis.
“All the elements that will go into any eventual intervention have been worked out,” ECOWAS commissioner Abdel-Fatau Musah said after the talks finished.
These included;
“The resources needed, and including the how and when we are going to deploy the force”, he added.
“We want diplomacy to work, and we want this message clearly transmitted to them (the junta) that we are giving them every opportunity to reverse what they have done,” Musah said.
Recall that an ECOWAS delegation arrived in the capital Niamey on Thursday but did not stay overnight as scheduled. It did not meet Bazoum or coup leader Abdourahamane Tiani.
The chairperson of ECOWAS, Bola Tinubu, has said the bloc would do;
“Whatever it takes” to resolve the crisis amicably, with military intervention a last resort.
The EU has already slapped commercial and financial penalties on the junta, with Nigeria, which supplies 70% of the country’s power, reducing delivery.
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The junta has warned that it will respond with force.
Military juntas in Mali and Burkina Faso, which have been in power since 2020, have warned that any regional intervention would be a “declaration of war” against them.