West African countries are working on plans for a possible military intervention in Niger to end the coup. The nation’s army, led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani, overthrew former President Mohamed Bazoum in the seventh coup in three years in West and Central Africa on July 26; with an Islamist rebellion. Ecowas (Economic Community of West African States) ordered the mobilization of an emergency force, possibly to be used against the junta, at an extraordinary meeting yesterday (August 10), expressing that it still hopes for a peaceful restoration of democracy. How big the force will be, whether it will actually invade and which countries will contribute is currently unclear.
Ecowas decided to gather a force of thousands of soldiers after the junta opposed the August 6 deadline for reinstating Bazoum. The junta, for its part, declared that it would protect the country from any foreign attack, and two other military-dominated countries in the region sided with it: Mali and Burkina Faso. Following a summit of heads of state in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, the bloc pledged to the junta sanctions, travel bans and an asset freeze, and to mobilize a regional force.
Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal, the countries that put the most pressure for an armed intervention Yesterday, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara told reporters that he considers Bazoum’s arrest an “act of terrorism” and promised supplies. A battalion of soldiers to the force. Human Rights Watch said it met with the ousted president, who was detained by the junta with his wife and son, and argued that the treatment he and his family were treated was “inhuman and cruel.”
Despite being one of the poorest countries in the world, a landlocked nation and more than twice the size of France, Niger is the world’s seventh-largest producer of uranium, a crucial material for nuclear energy and cancer treatments. Until the coup, it was also an ally of the West, after Mali and other countries opposed the former French colonial power for closer ties with Russia. US, French, German and Italian troops are stationed in Niger as part of the fight against the long-standing Islamist insurgency that has spread throughout the Sahel region.
The country, which borders Algeria and Libya, is also an important ally of the European Union in the fight against irregular migration, especially from sub-Saharan Africa, which is the center of flows from Nigeria to Algeria. Libya in hopes of going to Europe. France, which has 1,500 troops across the country yesterday, said it fully supported all the outcomes of the ECOWAS meeting, but did not specify the support it could provide for any possible intervention.
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Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
