ECOWAS Meeting in Abuja, Nigeria: Negotiating with Putschists Following the Coup in Niger – July 30, 2023

2023-08-02 20:07:07
ECOWAS meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, following the coup in Niger, July 30, 2023. KOLA SULAIMON / AFP

In a tense context following the coup d’etat in Niger, a delegation from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is currently in Niamey to ” negotiate “ with the putschists, declared Wednesday August 2 one of the persons in charge of the organization. “The chairman of the ECOWAS commission would have liked to be here, but as we speak he is in Niger as part of a high-level delegation led by the former head of state of Nigeria. , General Abdulsalami Abubakar, to negotiate”said ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs and Security, Abdel-Fatau Musah.

The chiefs of staff of the member countries of the West African intergovernmental organization, who have not ruled out the use of force once morest the putschists, are meeting until Friday in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, while an emissary from the Nigerian junta, General Salifou Mody, has arrived in Mali. A military intervention in Niger would be “the last option” envisaged by ECOWAS to restore constitutional order, but we must “prepare for this eventuality”added Abdel-Fatau Musah.

A week to restore the former president

ECOWAS, chaired by the Nigerian Head of State Bola Tinubu, does not rule out the use of force and has given a week – until Sunday – to the putschists to restore former President Mohamed Bazoum, overthrown on July 26 by members of his presidential guard. “We defend democracy and this must continue. We are ready and, as soon as we receive the order to intervene, we will do so”said Monday on RFI Nigeria’s army chief, Christopher Musa. In line with the sanctions taken by ECOWAS, Nigeria has cut off its electricity supply to Niger, which is 70% dependent on this neighbor for energy.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Coup d’Etat in Niger: the Community of West African States raises its tone and plays its future

Mali and Burkina Faso, neighbors of military-ruled Niger following coups in 2020 and 2022, support the junta and have said any armed intervention would be considered “like a declaration of war” and would lead to their withdrawal from ECOWAS. The junta also accused France, a former colonial power, of wanting to “to intervene militarily”which Paris strongly denied.

At the same time, Russia called for « dialogue » to avoid a “deterioration of the situation”. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the “Threat to use force once morest a sovereign state will not contribute[it] not to defuse tensions and resolve the situation in the country”.

The World Bank (WB) announced in a statement on Wednesday that it had suspended disbursements “for all its operations and until further notice” bound for Niger. The WB spent $1.5 billion in the country in 2022, according to the institution’s website.

Evacuations continue

For their part, Paris and Rome evacuate their nationals and foreigners who wish. By late followingnoon, more than 736 people had been evacuated, including 498 French, in the first three planes chartered by France. A fourth should land at Roissy – Charles-de-Gaulle airport around 1 a.m., according to the army staff, which adds that a fifth plane landed in Niamey on Wednesday evening.

This is expected to be the very last flight to evacuate people wishing to leave the country. “The evacuation operations from Niger led by France are coming to an end”said the French authorities in a message to the approximately 1,200 French people registered in Niger.

This is the first massive evacuation organized by France in the Sahel where coups have multiplied since 2020. Paris justified the evacuation by the “violence that took place” once morest its embassy on Sunday during a demonstration hostile to France, and by “closing the airspace”. The evacuation of some 1,500 French soldiers stationed in Niger is, however, not “not on the agenda”according to the general staff of the French armies.

French soldiers and European citizens at Niamey airport, August 2, 2023. STANISLAS POYET / AFP

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On the other hand, the United States has not launched an operation of this type and does not speak of ” Rebellion “estimating that there is still a “little window” for diplomacy and the reinstatement of President Bazoum in his functions. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who visited Niamey in March, assured Mr. Bazoum by telephone of the “unwavering support from the United States”who reject “attempts to overthrow the constitutional order”.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers The coup in Niger, another blow to French military strategy in the Sahel

The M62 movement, at the initiative of a pro-putschist demonstration, denounced on Tuesday the evacuation organized by France, wishing the suspension of some of its media and calling for a rally “peaceful every day” near the airport, “until the final departure of the foreign forces” present in the country.

For now “In Niamey, there are no particular tensions in the city, no particular stress, the population goes regarding its business”described on his arrival in Paris a passenger who worked for the EU in Niger. “At one point, there was a feeling of insecurity, we knew that everything might change”testified, relieved, Raïssa Kelembho, returned from Niger with her two boys and whose husband remained in Niger to work.

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