The Economic Community of West African States has called for dialogue with Niger’s junta, saying it stands ready for military intervention to overturn a coup if talks fail.
The regional bloc plans to send a mission to Niger this weekend to meet with the country’s self-appointed leaders, Abdel-Fatau Musah, the Ecowas commissioner for political affairs, peace and security, said after meetings in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, Friday.
“We are not going to engage in endless dialogue,” he said. “If they want to take the peaceful option to very early restoration of constitutional order in the country, then we can stand down the military option.” If the bloc is forced to intervene, it will be “to restore the constitutional order,” Musah said, adding that top military officers representing the bloc’s member-states had completed a plan to enter Niger, where soldiers overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum in a July 26 coup, and continue to hold him hostage with family and government members.The 15-nation grouping is taking a stand after the region’s sixth coup in three years.
Niger has been a relative bastion of stability in one of the world’s most insecure regions and a key western ally. The US has a military drone base in the country, which it used to target insurgents affiliated with al-Qaeda and Islamic State in cooperation with the French military. The landlocked nation, which is more than twice the size of France, ranks among the least-developed countries and has one of the highest birth rates in the world.
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