West African leaders holds talks on Niger as coup leaders stand firm – National | 24CA News
West African heads of state mentioned their response to final month’s army takeover in Niger at closed-door talks in Nigeria on Thursday after the junta defied their earlier risk to make use of pressure to revive democracy.
The assembly is happening hours after Niger’s coup leaders named a brand new authorities, forcing their agenda earlier than the summit.
Since the July 26 energy seize, the junta has rebuffed diplomatic overtures and ignored an Aug. 6 deadline from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to reinstate ousted president Mohamed Bazoum.
Mahamane Roufai Laouali, cited as “Secretary General of the Government”, named 21 ministers on state tv in a single day with out specifying any additional authorities plans.
Three leaders of the army takeover had been named ministers of defence, inside and sports activities.
Former Finance Minister Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine, who had been named prime minister on Monday, was appointed finance minister for the brand new authorities. Niger’s earlier authorities had 43 ministers and none had been army officers.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres voiced concern about Bazoum and his household after his occasion reported that they had been being detained on the presidential residence with out electrical energy or operating water, and had gone days with out recent meals.
“The Secretary-General… once again calls for his immediate, unconditional release and his reinstatement as Head of State,” a UN spokesperson mentioned on Wednesday.
The assembly within the Nigerian capital, Abuja, might show a pivotal second within the standoff. The bloc’s leaders are anticipated to agree on subsequent steps, which might embrace army intervention – one thing an ECOWAS official has mentioned could be a final resort.
In close by Senegal, the place the federal government has mentioned it might ship troops if wanted, folks’s views a few army intervention differed.
“As long as we act to restore peace I’m a supporter,” Lansanna Diedhiou mentioned close to a weekly market within the capital Dakar. “The objective of the organization is … to act together for the African family.”
Others, like Cheikh Niang, had been involved in regards to the impression on regional ties and solidarity.
“We’re all Africans and Niger is part of the African continent,” he mentioned. “We can’t send Africans to wage war against each other.”
Envoys of the Nigerian president and ECOWAS chair Bola Tinubu met coup leaders within the capital, Niamey, on Wednesday, providing a glimmer of hope for dialogue after earlier missions had been spurned.
Any escalation would additional destabilize West Africa’s Sahel area, one of many world’ poorest, the place a long-running Islamist insurgency that unfold from Mali has displaced hundreds of thousands over the previous decade and stoked a starvation disaster.
Niger had not too long ago fared higher than its neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso in stemming the violence. It additionally turned an more and more vital Western ally for combating insurgents after juntas seized energy within the different two international locations between 2020 and 2022 and reduce ties with conventional companions.
The coup was triggered by inner politics nevertheless it has developed into a world entanglement, with ECOWAS, the United Nations and Western international locations placing stress on the junta to face down, whereas army governments in neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso have vowed to defend it.
In Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou, resident Issouf Ouedraogo felt it made no sense for his nation’s new leaders to help the Niger coup as a result of the contexts had been completely different.
“Burkina was in a situation of degradation and acute insecurity,” he mentioned in reference to the frustrations that stoked two coups there final 12 months.
“Niger, on the other hand, was in a stable situation,” he famous.
The army takeover has raised questions over whether or not the United States can proceed the 1,100-strong army presence in Niger that officers and analysts say has been key to combating Islamist militants within the Sahel area.
A complicating issue could possibly be any determination by Niger’s coup leaders to comply with Mali’s footsteps and search assist from Russia’s Wagner Group, which the U.S. has designated a transnational prison group. Wagner’s chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has welcomed the coup in Niger and mentioned his forces had been out there to revive order.
Niger accused France on Wednesday of violating its airspace, attacking a army camp and releasing “terrorists” to undermine the nation. Paris denied the fees.
