ECOWAS LEADERS GATHER FOR KEY SUMMIT ON NIGER COUP
Read Time:1 Minute, 22 Second
By Aishat Momoh. O.
Following the military chiefs of Niger’s refusal to comply with an order to reinstate the elected president, leaders of the West African grouping ECOWAS will hold an emergency summit on the coup that occurred there on Thursday.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) claims it is pursuing a diplomatic solution but has not ruled out using force to resolve the issue two weeks after the coup that deposed Mohamed Bazoum.
The 15-nation organization said in a statement on Tuesday that significant decisions are anticipated to come from the meeting in Abuja, Nigeria.
The alliance, which has been working to stop a wave of coups among its members since 2020, gave the military in charge on July 26 until last Sunday to restore Bazoum or risk using force.
However, the coup’s organizers resisted, and the deadline passed without any action.
According to a proclamation read out on national television on Thursday, the military chiefs named a new government in their most recent act of defiance against international pressure.
The 21-member government will be led by Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, with the defense and interior ministries being run by generals from the new military ruling council.
The prospect of military action in Niger, a fragile country that is among the poorest in the world, has spurred discussion within ECOWAS and concerns from Algeria and Russia, two neighboring countries.
Mali and Burkina Faso, two of Niger’s neighbors who are both run by military governments that seized power in coups, have said that such intervention would be the same as declaring war on those nations.
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