Source: dw.com
The West African bloc sent a delegation to Niger to seek a peaceful resolution after it had indicated a standby force was ready to intervene.
A delegation from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) arrived in Niger on Saturday in an effort to seek peace over a military intervention in coup-hit Niger.
The delegation arrived in the capital in the early afternoon and is being led by former Nigerian President Abdulsalami Abubakar. ECOWAS leaders say they have been compelled to act after Niger became the fourth West African nation since 2020 to experience a coup, following Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso.
Delegation due for talks with self-declared authorities
Among the delegates is the bloc’s president Omar Touray, who was met at Niamey airport by the junta-appointed prime minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine and was due to hold talks with the self-declared authorities, the Reuters news agency reported, citing a source speaking on condition of anonymity.
Zeine told The New York Times that Bazoum would not come to harm.
“Nothing will happen to him, because we don’t have a tradition of violence in Niger,” the most senior civilian in the new regime told the newspaper.
The move comes a day after the bloc said that a force was on standby for military intervention should there be no peaceful resolution to the coup that ousted President Mohamed Bazoum.
The deposed president has been under house arrest since the July 26 power grab at the hands of members of Niger’s presidential guard, headed by Abdourahmane Tchiani.
Warning that intervention could escalate situation
Meanwhile, Niger and neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, say a defensive strategy has been developed with “concrete measures,” should ECOWAS opt to “escalate a war,” Nigerien state television announced.
“We are prepared for an attack,” Burkina Faso’s defense minister, Kassoum Coulibaly, said on Saturday after a meeting of representatives of the three countries in the Nigerien capital of Niamey.
Thousands of civilian volunteers gathered in central Niamey on Saturday in response to a call to register as civilian auxiliaries who could then be mobilized to support the army.
The Sahel region is in the grip of growing jihadi insurgencies linked to al-Qaeda and the so-called “Islamic State” terror group, with frustration over the violence among the catalysts for the military takeovers.
The UN says the country is in the midst of a refugee crisis and faces a number of humanitarian challenges including food insecurity and internal displacement.
kb/jcg (AFP, Reuters)