Faith Nyasuguta
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) army leaders are set to meet in Ghana on Thursday and Friday to discuss a possible military intervention in Niger, regional military sources said on Tuesday, a source at ECOWAS confirmed.
The meeting was previously meant to take place on Saturday, but was postponed for “technical reasons”.
It will take place a week after the decision taken by the organisation’s leaders to deploy their “standby force” to reinstate Mohamed Bazoum, the president of Niger ousted by a military coup on 26 July.
While several countries, including Côte d’Ivoire, have said they are ready to send their armies to Niger, ECOWAS notes that it wants to give priority to “diplomatic channels”.
At the moment, the idea of a military intervention is divisive: political, religious and civil society voices are being raised in northern Nigeria, fearing serious consequences for their country and for the Sahel region, which has been ravaged by jihadist violence.
After turning down several mediations from ECOWAS, Niger’s military regime welcomed a delegation of Nigerian religious leaders on Saturday.
Following the meeting, the military-appointed Prime Minister, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, stressed Niger’s “great interest” in “preserving” an “important and historic relationship” with Nigeria and ECOWAS.
However, the regime is blowing hot and cold, announcing that it now wants to “prosecute” deposed president Mohamed Bazoum for “high treason”.
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