An Extraordinary Summit of the Authority of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) convened by President Bola Tinubu, in his capacity as the chairman of the body will hold in Abuja today.
The ECOWAS Leaders will be discussing the political situation in Niger during the Extraordinary Summit and consider what action to take.
It could be recalled that ECOWAS has condemned the coup d’etat in Niger. “ECOWAS condemns, in the strongest terms, the attempt to seize power by force and calls on the coup plotters to free the democratically-elected President of the Republic immediately and without any condition,” the commission said in a statement.
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The meeting today could result to strong actions to pressure the army to restore constitutional order.
However, Niger’s military leaders have warned against any armed intervention in the country as West African leaders are set to gather in Nigeria’s capital.
Possible actions ECOWAS may take today.
Heads of state of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the eight-member West African Economic and Monetary Union could suspend Niger from its institutions, cut off the country from the regional central bank and financial market, and close borders.
Niger’s eastern neighbour Chad, a non-member of both regional organisations, has been invited to the ECOWAS summit, a statement from the Chadian president’s office said on Saturday.
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Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world, receiving close to $2 billion a year in official development assistance, according to the World Bank. It is also a security partner of former colonial power France and the United States, which both use it as a base to fight an Islamist insurgency in West and Central Africa’s wider Sahel region.
The West African leaders could also for the first time, consider a military intervention to restore President Mohamed Bazoum who was ousted when General Abdourahamane Tiani was declared the new head of state on Friday.
Junta warns against military intervention
Ahead of the Sunday summit, the military leaders in Niger on Saturday night, warned in a statement read on Niger national television on Saturday night against any military intervention.
“The objective of the (ECOWAS) meeting is to approve a plan of aggression against Niger through an imminent military intervention in Niamey in collaboration with other African countries that are non-members of ECOWAS, and certain western countries,” junta spokesman Colonel Amadou Abdramane said.
“We want to once more remind ECOWAS or any other adventurer, of our firm determination to defend our homeland,” he said.