In order to discuss the crisis in Niger, the military chiefs of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are scheduled to meet in Accra, Ghana’s capital, on Thursday and Friday.
The deployment of a standby force to Niger has been ordered by the Authority of Heads of State and Governments of ECOWAS as part of decisions made at its meeting on August 10, 2023, in Abuja, Nigeria.
The military juntas in Burkina Faso and Mali have stated that they will consider any attempt to forcibly reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum in neighboring Niger as an act of war.
Security experts, however, have opposed the plan to impose martial law in Niger in order to restore constitutional order.
The ECOWAS has been urged by the Foundation for Security Development in Africa (FOSDA) to take into account the security and safety of Niger’s citizens in any decisions it makes.
Theodora W. Anti, the Executive Director of FOSDA, commented on the situation and said that the peace and security of the Nigerois should come first.
“For FOSDA the peace of the Country and the sub-region and the safety of citizens should be the guiding force for all of ECOWAS intervention,” Madam Anti stated in a tweet.
In a related news, ECOWAS leaders have been urged to use dialogue to resolve the ongoing political crisis in Niger by security analyst Professor Kwesi Aning.
Prof. Aning noted that the ECOWAS announcement of the activation and deployment of a standby force to restore constitutional order in Niger was not the best course of action at this time when speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.
The Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre’s (KAIPTC) Director of the Faculty of Academic Affairs and Research, Prof. Aning, claimed that the ECOWAS framework contained specific procedures for handling problems like military coups d’état.
