Staff Writer
According to Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, the deployment of a “standby force to restore constitutional order” in Niger has been authorized by West African leaders and would happen as soon as possible.
The ECOWAS regional group has not given any information regarding the force that will be used or the timeline for taking action against the military officials who took over Niger two weeks ago and removed Mohamed Bazoum as president.
The emergency meeting was held in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, but upon his return to Abidjan, Ouattara stated: “The Chiefs of Staff will have other conferences to finalize things but they have the agreement of the Conference of Heads of State for the operation to start as soon as possible.”
According to Ouattara, a battalion of 850 to 1,100 soldiers from Ivory Coast would join soldiers from Nigeria and Benin. Additional nations would also join them.
Ouattara declared, “We are determined to return president Bazoum to his functions.”
“We are committed to resuming president Bazoum’s duties.”
Omar Touray, the president of the ECOWAS Commission, had earlier made the announcement in Abuja.
In a statement on Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised the “determination of ECOWAS to explore all options for the peaceful resolution of the crisis” and called for a non-violent approach to undo the coup.
The ECOWAS deadline of Sunday for the coup leaders to free Bazoum, who has been held since July 26, or risk military involvement, has already been disregarded.
The crisis meeting’s chair, Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu, said: “All is not lost yet” for a “peaceful solution, as a roadmap to restore democracy and stability” in Abuja.
However, he continued, “No option is taken off the table, including the use of force as a last resort.”
Tinubu had emphasized “we prioritise diplomatic negotiations and dialogue as the bedrock of our approach” before to the private discussions.
‘We must engage’
The 15-nation bloc is battling to stop military takeovers that have affected four of its members in the past three years, which could signal new instability in the region.
Before the meeting, Tinubu admitted that “the seven-day ultimatum we issued during the first summit has not yielded the desired outcome”.
The coup leaders rejected an attempt this week to send a united delegation of ECOWAS, UN, and African Union representatives to Niamey, the capital of Niger.
In order to persuade all parties, including the coup leaders, to cede control and restore President Bazoum, Tinubu said: “We must engage all parties involved, including the coup leaders, in sincere discussions.”
The potential for military action in Niger, a fragile country that is among the poorest in the world, has spurred discussion within ECOWAS and concerns from Algeria, a neighboring country, as well as Russia.
The military regimes in Niger’s neighbors Mali and Burkina Faso, which were both overthrown by coups, also issued warnings against military action.
The recent coup-affected nations of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea have all been expelled from ECOWAS and, like Niger, were not represented at the Abuja conference.
The fifth coup in Niger since its independence from France in 1960 has been violently opposed by Nigeria, the current ECOWAS chair.
On Wednesday, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, the president of Guinea-Bissau, remarked before taking off for Abuja that the recent coups among its members put the survival of ECOWAS in jeopardy.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed worry about 63-year-old Bazoum and his family, claiming that they were apparently living in “deplorable conditions”.
On Wednesday, CNN claimed that Bazoum was being held in seclusion and receiving only meals of simple rice and pasta.
- Sahel instability
A jihadist insurgency that began in northern Mali in 2012, moved to Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015, and is currently causing unease in governments around the Gulf of Guinea is being fought by countries in the Sahel.
These three countries, which have volatile histories and are among the world’s poorest, have suffered greatly as a result of the violent campaign.
Niger has the unfortunate situation of having to deal with a dual jihadist insurgency from terrorists entering from the southeast and the southwest.
The election of Bazoum in 2021 helped Niger forge strong ties with France and the United States, both of which have significant bases and troop deployments there.
Following disagreements with the militaries of Mali and Burkina Faso last year, France withdrew its forces from both countries and shifted its anti-jihadist campaign to Niger.
