2023-08-12 17:30:58
West African member states of ECOWAS decided on Thursday August 10 to deploy a “standby force” to restore constitutional order in Niger. However, they did not specify the numbers that this force might mobilize for an intervention.
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The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has ordered the deployment of a “standby force” to restore constitutional order in Niger. This intervention should take place “as soon as possible”, according to Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara. However, ECOWAS still hopes to reach a peaceful resolution to the crisis, even if the negotiations with the putschists have not been successful.
The “standby force” referred to by ECOWAS is drawn from the organisation’s former Ceasefire Monitoring Brigade (Ecomog). This military intervention group was created in 1990 following the civil war in Liberia, with the aim of enforcing the ceasefire agreements signed in the countries of West Africa. Focused on maintaining peace, this interposition force included up to 20,000 men, nicknamed the “White Helmets”, from member countries.
In 1999, ECOWAS decided to make Ecomog its permanent armed wing, responsible for supervising ceasefires, disarming irregular armed forces, carrying out humanitarian operations and preventive deployments. In 2004, the group became the “standby force”. It was deployed, in addition to Liberia, to Sierra Leone in 1997 to end the Revolutionary United Front rebellion, to Guinea-Bissau in 1999 to end the civil war, and once more to Liberia in 2003 to facilitate peace talks threatened by the rebel occupation of the capital Monrovia.
It also intervened in 2013 in Mali as part of the African-led International Support Mission in Mali to fight once morest jihadists. In 2017, it sent 7,000 troops to The Gambia following political unrest between the incumbent president and the newly elected president. Among the fifteen members of ECOWAS, four have been suspended since 2021 following coups: Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and recently Niger. Only eight countries out of the remaining eleven participated in the extraordinary summit in Abuja at the end of July: Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
Côte d’Ivoire, which has 27,000 soldiers, has already announced that it will “contribute a battalion” of 850 to 1,100 men to the ECOWAS force. The other member countries have not yet specified the number of soldiers they plan to deploy.
The heavyweight of the organization remains Nigeria, which can mobilize up to 120,000 men from its regular army and 32,000 reservists. According to the 2023 Global Firepower Index, the Nigerian military is ranked 4th in Africa and 36th in the world in terms of military power.
According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, in its report “The Military Balance” of 2023, Ghana has 16,000 troops and Senegal can mobilize 14,000 troops. Next come Togo with 13,000 soldiers and Benin with 12,000. Sierra Leone can mobilize 8,500 soldiers and Guinea-Bissau 4,000. The Nigerien army has 33,000 men and is ranked 25th in Africa. in terms of military power.
Algeria, which shares around 1,000 km of border with Niger, rejects any military intervention by ECOWAS. This position was reaffirmed by Ahmed Attaf, Minister of Foreign Affairs, during the meeting with the envoy of the Nigerian President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, currently at the head of ECOWAS.
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