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West African Summit Backs Diplomacy In Niger Coup Crisis

ECOWAS Chair and Nigeria’s President, Bola Tinubu, during second summit on Niger coup held in Abuja on Thursday, August 10, 2023

West African leaders said on Thursday that they fully support diplomacy in the quest to end the crisis in Niger, withdrawing a threat to intervene militarily in the coup-torn country.

“We prioritise diplomatic negotiations and dialogue as the bedrock of our approach,” said Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, chairing an emergency summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja.

The 15-nation group is battling military takeovers, which have now swept through four of its members in three years.

Their meeting happened four days after Niger’s coup leaders were given an ultimatum to reinstate the elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, who was imprisoned by guards on July 26.

But the regime ignored the deadline.

“Regrettably, the seven-day ultimatum we issued during the first summit has not yielded the desired outcome,” Tinubu acknowledged.

“We must engage all parties involved, including the coup leaders, in earnest discussions to convince them to relinquish power and reinstate President Bazoum,” he said.

“It is our duty to exhaust all avenues of engagement to ensure a swift return to constitutional governance in Niger.”

The coup leaders on Thursday signalled further defiance by appointing a new government.

The 21-member cabinet will be headed by Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, a civilian, with generals from the new military governing council at the defence and interior ministries.

The possibility of military intervention in Niger, a fragile nation that ranks among the world’s poorest, sparked debate within ECOWAS and warnings from neighbouring Algeria as well as Russia.

Niger’s neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, both ruled by military governments that seized power in coups, also declared an intervention would be a “declaration of war” on their countries.

Hopes for ‘Real Discussions’ 

The coup leaders rejected a bid to deploy a joint team of ECOWAS, UN, and African Union representatives to Niger’s capital Niamey on Tuesday.

A former emir of the Nigerian city of Kano, however, stated on Wednesday that he had met with the coup leaders to try settle the conflict.

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi told Nigerian state television he had spoken to coup leader General Abdourahamane Tiani and would deliver a “message” to Tinubu, though he was not an official government emissary.

“We came hoping that our arrival will pave the way for real discussions between the leaders of Niger and those of Nigeria,” said Sanusi, who is known to be a close friend of Tinubu.

Nigeria, the current ECOWAS chair, is adopting a hard line against last month’s coup, Niger’s fifth since independence from France in 1960.

Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo stated before going to Abuja on Wednesday that the existence of ECOWAS was at jeopardy following coups in four member countries: Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and now Niger.

Bazoum remains Niger’s sole recognised president and coups must be banned, he added.

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres joined a chorus of concern about 63-year-old Bazoum, saying that he and his family were reportedly living in “deplorable living conditions”.

CNN reported Wednesday that Bazoum was being kept in isolation and given meals of only plain rice and pasta.

Unstable Sahel

Countries in the Sahel region are waging a jihadist insurgency that began in northern Mali in 2012, moved to Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015, and is now creating concern in Gulf of Guinea states.

The murderous campaign has been catastrophic for those three countries, which have tumultuous histories and are among the world’s poorest.

Niger has the misfortune of dealing with a dual Islamist insurgency, one in the southwest and another in the southeast. Thousands of citizens, police officers, and military have been killed across the region.

Bazoum’s victory in 2021 helped Niger strengthen ties with France and the United States, both of which have significant bases and troop deployments in the country.

After falling out with their military commanders, France withdrew its forces from Mali and Burkina Faso last year, refocusing its anti-jihadist effort on Niger.

Written by PH

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