Africa

West African leaders make plan for military intervention in Niger

Regional bloc not divulging to coup plotters when and where strike will occur as decision rests with heads of states

Supporters of Niger’s ruling junta gather in Niamey at the start of a protest called to fight for the country’s freedom and resist foreign interference. Photograph: Sam Mednick/AP

Fri Aug 4 2023 - 19:15

West African defence chiefs have made a plan for potential military intervention to reverse last week’s coup in Niger, including how and when to deploy forces, said a leader of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas).

The regional bloc will not divulge to the coup plotters when and where it will strike. That decision that will be taken by the heads of states, said Abdel-Fatau Musah, Ecowas commissioner for political affairs, peace and security.

“All the elements that will go into any eventual intervention have been worked out here, including the resources needed, the how and when we are going deploy the force,” he said at the close of a three-day meeting in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.

‘Amicable resolution’

Ecowas has already imposed sanctions on Niger and said it could authorise the use of force if the coup leaders do not restore power to elected President Mohamed Bazoum by Sunday.

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The 15-member body sent a delegation to Niger on Thursday seeking an “amicable resolution”, but a source in the entourage said a meeting at the airport with the junta’s representatives yielded no breakthrough.

“We want diplomacy to work, and we want this message clearly transmitted to them that we are giving them every opportunity to reverse what they have done,” Mr Musah said.

In a separate development, the Kremlin said on Friday that any interference from non-regional powers such as the United States in Niger was unlikely to improve the situation.

Moscow reaction

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to a question about a call from Mr Bazoum for the United States and the entire international community to intervene to restore constitutional order in his country.

“It is unlikely that the intervention of non-regional forces is capable of changing the situation for the better,” Mr Peskov told reporters.

“We are monitoring the situation very closely, we are concerned about the tension in Niger, and we continue to favour a swift return to constitutional normality without endangering human lives,” he said.

France and the United States have also imposed sweeping sanctions on Niger in an effort to pressure the coup leaders to restore constitutional order after Mr Bazoum’s removal — the seventh coup in west and central Africa since 2020.

Not backing down

But junta leader Abdourahamane Tiani, the former head of Niger’s presidential guard, has said he will not back down.

Gen Tiani has the support of fellow juntas in Mali and Burkina Faso and also of Russia’s private mercenary Wagner group, which has fighters in Mali and Central African Republic.

In a Washington Post opinion piece, Mr Bazoum wrote: “With an open invitation from the coup plotters and their regional allies, the entire central Sahel region could fall to Russian influence via the Wagner Group, whose brutal terrorism has been on full display in Ukraine.”

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner, last week welcomed the coup in Niger and said his forces were available to restore order. The Kremlin has urged a return to constitutional order. — Reuters

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