ECOWAS meets to decide on military intervention
Use the “diplomatic channel” or send their troops? The Economic Community of West African States will hold discussions on Thursday and Friday.
The ECOWAS meeting was scheduled for Tuesday but was postponed to Thursday for “technical reasons”.
AFP/NIPA Tennis
The Chiefs of Staff of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will meet in Ghana on Thursday and Friday to discuss possible military intervention in Niger, a regional military source learned on Tuesday. , confirmed by an ECOWAS source.
The meeting was scheduled to take place on Saturday, before it was postponed for “technical reasons”.
It comes a week after the organization’s leaders decided to deploy their “standby force” to the return of Niger’s president, Mohamed Bassoum, who was ousted by a military coup on July 26.
ECOWAS says it prefers a “diplomatic route”, although several countries such as Cote d’Ivoire have said they are ready to send troops to Niger.
Maintain international relations
The idea of military intervention is divisive: political, religious and civil society voices are being raised as such in northern Nigeria, who fear dire consequences for their country and the Sahel region, which has been devastated by jihadist violence.
After rejecting several mediations by ECOWAS, the Nigerian military junta on Saturday welcomed a delegation of Nigerian religious leaders.
Following the meeting, military-appointed Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Sain expressed Niger’s “great interest” in “protecting” its “important and historic relationship” with Nigeria and ECOWAS.
But the regime is chilling, now announcing it wants to “investigate” ousted President Mohamed Bassum for “high treason”.
AFP
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