The ousted president Muhammad Bazoum
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ECOWAS orders its reserve force to be put on alert and stresses that “no option is excluded in confronting the coup.”
Posted on: August 10, 2023: 07:58 PM GST Last updated: August 10, 2023: 10:38 PM GST
Olivier Cadec, Vice-Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in the French Parliament, stressed in exclusive statements to Al-Arabiya the necessity of responding firmly to the coup and not tolerating the putschists in Niger.
The French senator said that there is no threat to us with regard to the uranium coming from Niger, pointing out that it is the countries that have colonial visions such as Russia that threaten this country.
He praised ECOWAS for acting firmly with the putschists in Niger, while two Western officials said that the military council in Niger had threatened to kill the ousted president if neighboring countries intervened militarily.
The two officials told the Associated Press that members of the military council in Niger told a senior US diplomat that they would kill the ousted president, Mohamed Bazoum, if the countries in the region attempted any military intervention to return him to power.
One of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, said that representatives of the military council informed Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland of the threat against Bazoum during her visit to the country this week.
A US official confirmed that account, also speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Military coup in Niger
The coup leaders deposed Bazoum on 26 July. Bazoum says he is being held hostage in his residence.
ECOWAS: No option is excluded in confronting the coup
For his part, Nigerian President Paula Tinubu, who holds the presidency of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), said today, Thursday, at the end of a summit to discuss the coup in Niger that the group did not rule out any option, including the use of force as a last resort.
In the closing statement of the summit, today, Thursday, the group said that it had ordered its reserve force to be put on alert, in response to the coup that took place in Niger.
The summit, hosted by Nigeria, was held on Thursday to discuss the group’s leaders’ response to last month’s military coup after the military junta in Niamey defied their previous threat to use force to restore democracy.
The meeting, which included closed-door talks, took place hours after the coup leaders formed a new government, which imposed itself on the agenda of the summit before it began.
Since the July 26 coup, which shocked the region, the military council has rejected diplomatic initiatives and ignored a deadline that expired on August 6, set by the Economic Community of West African States, “ECOWAS”, to restore the ousted president, Mohamed Bazoum, to power.
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2023-08-10 15:58:00
