The ECOWAS regional bloc is drawing up a potential operation to back an ultimatum to coup leaders to step down by Sunday. West African defense chiefs have drawn up a plan for a potential military intervention to reverse last week’s coup in Niger, including how and when to deploy forces.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will not tell the coup plotters when and where they will strike, but Abdel-Fatau Musah – the ECOWAS commissioner for political affairs, peace and security – said on Friday that the decision would be made by the government. heads of state of the bloc.
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“All the elements that will go into any eventual intervention have been worked out here, including the necessary resources, how and when we will deploy the forces,” Musah said at the end of the three-day meeting in the Nigerian capital. Abuja.
ECOWAS has already imposed sanctions on Niger and said it could authorize the use of force if the coup leaders do not restore power to President-elect Mohamed Bazoum by Sunday.
The 15-member body sent a delegation to Niger on Thursday to seek a “peaceful solution”, but a source close to the situation said the meeting at the airport with representatives of the military had yielded no breakthrough.
“We want diplomacy to work and we want to get this message clear to them that we are giving them every opportunity to reverse what they have done,” Musah said.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu told his government to prepare for options, including the deployment of military personnel, in a letter read to the Senate on Friday. Senegal also said it would send troops.
Niger’s military rulers condemned outside interference and said they would fight back.
Coup leader Abdourahamane Tchiani, 59, served as a battalion commander for ECOWAS troops during the 2003 conflict in Ivory Coast, so he knows what such missions involve.
His support from other military leaders in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, both ECOWAS members, could also undermine the regional response. Both countries said they would come to Niger’s defense.
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