8/16/2023-|Last update: 8/16/202311:56 PM (Mecca Time)
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) announced on Wednesday that the chiefs of staff of its armies will draw up, Thursday and Friday, the final plan to deploy reserve forces in Niger, while France denied its intention to withdraw its forces stationed there.
On the eve of the meeting of the chiefs of staff of the ECOWAS member states in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, an atmosphere of anticipation prevails in Niger and its vicinity for what will result from the meeting, which is described as pivotal. The group had previously hinted at military intervention to put an end to the coup in Niger, but divisions among member states prevented it from taking swift action.
On Wednesday, ECOWAS issued a statement again calling on the leaders of the military junta in Niger to restore the constitutional situation.
The statement said that the security situation in Niger has worsened since what it described as a coup attempt against President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26.
The group – which includes 15 countries – denounced the attack that targeted a Niger army force on the border with Mali on Tuesday, killing 17 soldiers and wounding 20 others.
The meeting of the Chiefs of Staff is held a week after ECOWAS decided to deploy a reserve force to restore the detained President, Mohamed Bazoum, to his post, and the group confirmed its desire to exhaust the diplomatic track before any military action.
In the context, the French newspaper “Le Monde” quoted diplomatic sources as saying that the African Union will issue a statement refusing to resort to force to resolve the crisis in Niger, after the tensions of last Monday’s meeting, which will further weaken the position of ECOWAS, according to the newspaper’s expression.
Deby (right) while receiving Al-Zein in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena (Anatolia)
Negotiation terms
From Niamey, Al-Jazeera correspondent Zainab Bint Arbih said that the conditions of the military council for negotiation are respect for the country’s sovereignty, which observers considered a positive point on the eve of the crucial meeting of ECOWAS in Ghana, pending its decisions.
In the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, Mohamed El-Amin El-Zein, the appointed Prime Minister of the coup leaders in Niger, renewed the ruling authorities’ openness to dialogue with all parties on the principle of the country’s independence.
Al-Zein confirmed – in statements he made during the visit, in which he met the transitional president, Mohamed Idriss Deby, – that Niamey will negotiate with partners who understand Niger’s sovereignty.
The leaders of the ruling military council in Niger pledged to confront any military action that the ECOWAS group might take.
The coup leaders also threatened to prosecute the detained president for high treason, which was condemned by the African Group and the Western powers supporting Bazoum’s return to power.
The White House reaffirmed on Wednesday that President Bazoum is the democratically elected president in Niger, stressing the need for his release and his family and for his administration to continue.
Also in Washington, the US State Department announced that the new US ambassador to Niger, Kathleen Fitzgibbon, will soon go to Niamey, and said that this is not an acceptance of the military’s seizure of power in the country.
French forces
On another issue, the French Foreign Ministry denied, on Wednesday, Paris’s intention to withdraw its soldiers stationed in Niger to divert them to Chadian territory.
The ministry added that the French forces are on the ground in Niger at the request of the legitimate authorities of Niger and in accordance with agreements signed with them to protect the country from terrorism.
The French Foreign Ministry stated that it does not recognize any decisions taken by the putschists, but only the decisions of the “legitimate authority”, stressing that it has cut off all military support and civil cooperation with Niger since the coup.
France recently evacuated hundreds of its nationals from Niger and kept its 1,500 troops.
Attack on the army
Meanwhile, the Niger Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday that 17 soldiers were killed and 20 others were wounded in an attack near the border with Mali.
And the ministry stated – in a statement – that “a group of the Nigerien armed forces, which was moving between Boni and Torodi, fell victim to a terrorist ambush on the outskirts of the town of Kotogo.”
She indicated that the “non-final toll” among the soldiers is 17 dead and 20 wounded, 6 of whom were seriously wounded, and that “all of them were evacuated to Niamey.”
The deterioration of the security situation due to attacks by groups described as terrorist was one of the most important reasons given by military leaders in Niger to justify the coup.
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2023-08-16 20:51:14