ALL OPTIONS OPEN IN NIGER, INCLUDING ‘USE OF FORCE’: ECOWAS

Thu 10 August 2023:

Following the July 26 coup, West African chiefs of state declared that all options, including the use of force, were on the table and ordered the activation of their reserve force.

The ECOWAS emergency conference, which was held in Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja on Thursday to discuss responses to last month’s military coup in Niger after the coup leaders disregarded their prior threat to use force to restore democracy.

Since the July 26 overthrow of Niger’s democratic leadership, the coup plotters have refused to relinquish power and release detained Bazoum, ignoring an August 6 deadline from ECOWAS to reinstate him.

In closing remarks, the bloc pledged to enforce sanctions and travel bans on those preventing the return to power of democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum.

“No option is taken off the table, including the use of force as a last resort,” said Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu, the ECOWAS chair, at the end of the summit.

“We remain steadfast in our commitment to supporting Niger in the journey towards peaceful democratic stability,” he said.

“I hope that through our collective effort we can bring about a peaceful resolution as a roadmap to restoring stability and democracy in Niger. All is not lost yet.”

Another resolution spoke of ordering “the deployment of the ECOWAS Standby Force to restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger”, immediately followed by another that spoke of restoring such order “through peaceful means”.

Last week, ECOWAS defense officials drafted plans for a possible military intervention in Niger, which the heads of state addressed at Thursday’s conference. The summit communique made no mention of when or under what conditions a deployment within Niger would occur.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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