ACCRA, Ghana
West African military chiefs
met in Ghana on Thursday to coordinate a possible armed intervention to reverse
a coup in Niger, as Germany called for EU sanctions against the rebel leaders.The defense chiefs from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) countries excluding Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea and Niger, pose for a group photo
Alarmed by a series of
military takeovers in the region, the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) has agreed to activate a "standby force to restore constitutional
order" in Niger.
ECOWAS is demanding Niger's
coup leaders release President Mohamed Bazoum after his July 26 ouster, warning
that the bloc could send in troops as a last resort if negotiations fail.
"Democracy is what we
stand for and it's what we encourage," Nigeria's Chief of Defence Staff,
General Christopher Gwabin Musa, told the meeting in Accra.
"The focus of our
gathering is not simply to react to events, but to proactively chart a course
that results in peace and promotes stability," he said.
ECOWAS troops have intervened
in other emergencies since 1990 including in wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Ivory Coast, Benin and Nigeria are expected to contribute troops, but little
detail has emerged over a potential Niger operation.
Abdel-Fatau Musah, an ECOWAS
commissioner for political affairs, peace and security, said the Accra meeting
would "fine tune" details in case the bloc "were to resort to
the ultimate means of force".
Musah is also reported to have
said all member states except those under military rule and Cape Verde are
ready to participate in the standby force.
The Nigerien generals who have
detained Bazoum blamed deteriorating security in the country for the coup and
have threatened to charge him with treason. They have however said they are
open to negotiations. Russia and the United States have urged a diplomatic
solution to the crisis.
ECOWAS has already applied
trade and financial sanctions while France, Germany and the United States have
suspended aid programmes.
On Thursday, Germany's foreign
ministry said it wanted the EU to impose sanctions on the coup leaders, adding
on social media that Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had held talks with her
French and US counterparts.
The Accra meeting of top army
commanders on Thursday and Friday came after fresh violence in Niger, with
jihadists killing at least 17 soldiers in an ambush, the defence ministry said.
Twenty more soldiers were
wounded, six seriously, in the heaviest losses since the July 26 coup, when the
presidential guard ousted Bazoum and detained him and his family.
Jihadist insurgencies have
gripped Africa's Sahel region for more than a decade, breaking out in northern
Mali in 2012 before spreading to neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015.
The unrest across the region
has killed thousands of troops, police officers and civilians, and forced
millions to flee their homes.
Anger at the bloodshed has
fuelled military coups in Mali and Burkina Faso since 2020, with Niger the
latest to fall.
Analysts say any ECOWAS
intervention against Niger's coup leaders would be militarily and politically
risky, and the bloc has said it prefers a diplomatic outcome.
ECOWAS issued a statement
Tuesday "strongly condemning" the latest jihadist attack, urging the
military "to restore constitutional order in Niger to be able to focus
(its) attention on security... weaker since the attempted coup d'etat".
Talks have taken place this
week in Addis Ababa among ECOWAS and Niger representatives under the aegis of
the African Union.
The United States said Wednesday
that a new ambassador would soon head to Niger to help lead diplomacy aimed at
reversing the coup.
Bazoum's election in 2021 was
a landmark in Niger's history, ushering in its first peaceful transfer of power
since independence from France in 1960.
He survived two attempted
coups before being toppled in the country's fifth military takeover.
The United Nations warned
Wednesday that the crisis could significantly worsen food insecurity in the
impoverished country, urging humanitarian exemptions to sanctions and border
closures to avert catastrophe.
Niger is also facing a
jihadist insurgency in its southeast from militants crossing from Nigeria --
the cradle of a campaign initiated by Boko Haram in 2010.
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