Niger Coup Leaders Defy ECOWAS Deadline
Niamey, The coup leaders in Niger are experiencing increased pressure as Sunday deadline set by the West African regional group Ecowas passes. The military is required to give up control or potentially face armed intervention.
France, the previous colonial ruler, severed military connections with the junta when they assumed control on July 26th. France has stated its resolute support for whatever steps Ecowas decides to take once the Sunday deadline has passed.
“The future of Niger and the stability of the entire region are at stake,” the office of French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said after she held talks in Paris with Niger’s prime minister, Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou.
The military leaders of Ecowas have reached a consensus on a strategy to potentially intervene and address the crisis, which is the most recent of multiple coups that have impacted Africa’s Sahel region since 2020.
“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,” ECOWAS commissioner Abdel-Fatau Musah said on Friday.
But he warned that “all the elements that will go into any eventual intervention have been worked out”, including how and when force would be deployed.
Niger has been a crucial component in the efforts of Western nations to address the jihadist insurgencies that have afflicted the Sahel region since 2012. Both France and the United States have deployed approximately 1,500 and 1,000 troops, respectively, within Niger to contribute to these strategies.
However, there is a noticeable increase in anti-French sentiment in the area, and at the same time, Russian involvement, often facilitated by the Wagner mercenary group, has been expanding. Moscow has cautioned against any external military involvement in Niger.
Error of judgment
The coup “is an error of judgment that goes totally against the interests of the country”, French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu told AFP in an interview Saturday.
“This putsch will weaken the fight against terrorism in the Sahel, where activity by armed terrorist groups is resurging, notably taking advantage of certain failed states like Mali,” he said.
Niger, a nation facing significant economic challenges, heavily depends on international assistance, which might be withdrawn if President Mohamed Bazoum is not restored to his position as the country’s leader, he further stated.
The junta has stated its readiness to respond with equal force. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has expressed his opposition to any military involvement in neighboring Niger.
“We categorically refuse any military intervention,” he said in a television interview Saturday evening, adding that such action would be “a direct threat to Algeria”.
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He stressed, “there will be no solution without us (Algeria). We are the first people affected”.
“Algeria shares nearly a thousand kilometers” of border with Niger, he said.
“What is the situation today in countries that have experienced military intervention?,” he said, pointing to Libya and Syria. Mali and Burkina Faso, where military juntas have taken power since 2020, have also said that any regional intervention would be tantamount to a “declaration of war” against them.
Since July 26, Bazoum, aged 63, along with his family, has been detained by the coup plotters in his official Niamey residence.
Thursday, in his first extensive statement since his detention, Bazoum wrote in The Washington Post that a successful coup would have “devastating consequences for our country, our region, and the entire world.”
Bazoum, the victor of the 2021 election that marked Niger’s historic transition from one civilian government to another, called on “the US government and the global community to assist us in reinstating our constitutional system.”
Conflict in Nigeria
Nigeria has cut electricity supplies to its neighbor Niger, causing humanitarian concerns, while Niamey has closed the extensive Sahel nation’s borders, making food deliveries more difficult.
Senior Nigerian politicians have urged President Bola Tinubu to reconsider the military intervention threat.
Godswill Akpabio, president of the Senate, said, “The Senate calls on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as chairman of ECOWAS, to encourage other ECOWAS leaders to strengthen political and diplomatic options.”
Senators from northern Nigerian states, seven of which share a combined frontier with Niger of approximately 1,500 kilometers (900 miles), have already advised against intervention until all other options have been exhausted.
Tinubu himself implored ECcowas on Thursday to do “whatever it takes” to achieve an “amicable resolution” to the Niger crisis.
Niger Coup Leaders Defy ECOWAS Deadline
