Dina Mahmoud (capitals)
Yesterday, the leaders of West African countries expressed their firm support for resolving the Niger crisis diplomatically, stressing that they would make negotiation with the military leaders who seized power in Niger a “base” for their efforts to defuse the crisis.
“We give priority to diplomatic negotiations and dialogue as the basis of our approach,” said Nigerian President Paula Tinubu, who chairs the emergency summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja.
Despite this, the leaders of ECOWAS decided yesterday to deploy the “reserve force” of the regional organization to restore constitutional order in Niger, according to the decisions that were read at the end of a summit held in Abuja.
ECOWAS Commission President Omar Touray said, following the extraordinary summit, that the organization had ordered “the deployment of the ECOWAS reserve force to restore constitutional order in Niger.” It was not immediately possible to determine what “deployment of force” means in practice.
The summit comes four days after the expiry of a deadline set by ECOWAS for the leaders of the Nigerien coup to return to office the elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, who was arrested by his guards on July 26. But the military ignored the deadline.
Tinubu acknowledged that “unfortunately, the seven-day deadline that we issued at our first summit did not lead to the desired result.” He added, “We have to engage all concerned parties, including the coup leaders, in serious talks to persuade them to relinquish power and restore President Bazoum to his post.”
He continued, “It is our duty to exhaust all means of communication, to ensure a speedy return to constitutional rule in Niger.”
In a new expression of their resistance to international pressure, the coup leaders announced Thursday the appointment of a new government. The new Prime Minister, Ali Al-Amin Zein, will head the government, which consists of 21 officials, while two generals from the new ruling military council will head the defense and interior portfolios. On Tuesday, the coup leaders rejected an effort to send a team that includes representatives of ECOWAS, the United Nations and the African Union to Niamey.
But in a twist yesterday, a former emir of the Nigerian city of Kano announced that he had met the coup leaders to help mediate the crisis. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi told Nigerian state television that he had spoken to the coup leader, General Abd al-Rahman Tiane, and would deliver a “message” to Tinubu, although he is not an official envoy from the government.
Senussi, known for his close relationship with Tinubu, said, “We came in the hope that our arrival would pave the way for real talks between the leaders of Niger and Nigeria.”
Before heading to Abuja yesterday, Guinea-Bissau President Omar Sissoko Embalo said that Bozem is still the only recognized president of Niger.
Meanwhile, the former NATO commander in Europe, retired Admiral James Stavridis, warned of the potential repercussions of the current crisis in Niger on the situation in the entire African continent, in light of the continuing crisis resulting from the rejection of the coup leaders in this country. , the efforts of regional and international powers that are calling for President Bazoum to be reinstated.
Stavridis, who held his military position in NATO between 2009 and 2013, warned that the repercussions of what is happening in Niger may not remain confined to the territory of this country, located in the West African region.
The retired US admiral stressed, according to the American “Newsweek” magazine, that the conflict in Niger, against the backdrop of the coup that took place on the twenty-sixth of last month, “definitely” includes all the elements that could lead to the outbreak of what he described as a “comprehensive confrontation” in Africa, especially in light of the strategic location of this country, in the Sahel region.
The warnings issued by the former Western military commander coincided with optimistic statements made by a US State Department spokesperson, in which he said that his country still believes that the opportunity exists to find a settlement to the crisis in Niger, and that the “window of hope” to find a solution has not yet closed. Despite Washington’s decision to suspend the aid program it provides to the authorities in this African country, following the recent military coup there.
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