'We are ready to go': ECOWAS sets date for possible Niger intervention

ECOWAS Committee's meeting in Accra. (Photo/Reuters)

West Africa's main regional bloc ECOWAS has agreed a "D-day" for a possible military intervention to restore democracy in Niger if diplomatic efforts fail, a senior official said, without disclosing the date.

"We are ready to go anytime the order is given," ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security Abdel Fatau Musah said during the closing ceremony on Friday.

"The D-Day is also decided."

"We've already agreed and fine-tuned what will be required for the intervention," he said, emphasising that it was still seeking to engage with the junta peacefully."

"As we speak we are still readying (a) mediation mission into the country, so we have not shut any door."

Military officers deposed Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 and have defied calls from the United Nations, ECOWAS and others to reinstate him, prompting the bloc to order a standby force to be assembled.

Most of its 15 member states are prepared to contribute to the joint force except those also under military rule - Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea - and tiny Cape Verde, an ECOWAS official said on Thursday.

Defence chiefs have declined to say how many troops will be deployed or other strategic details.

Any intervention would further destabilise West Africa's impoverished Sahel region, which is already battling a decade-old insurgency.

Niger also has strategic importance beyond West Africa because of its uranium and oil reserves and role as a hub for foreign troops involved in the fight against the insurgents linked to Al Qaeda and Daesh.

'Grave consequences'

Bazoum, whose 2021 election was a landmark in Niger's troubled history, has been held with his family at the president's official residence since the coup, with growing international concern over his conditions in detention.

ECOWAS chair and Nigerian President Bola Tinubu threatened Niamey with "grave consequences" if the new regime allows Bazoum's health to worsen under house arrest, an EU official said on Friday.

During a call to EU chief Charles Michel, Tinabu noted: "President Bazoum's detention conditions are deteriorating".

"Any further deterioration to his well-being status will have grave consequences."

Michel had renewed the European Union's "full support and backing of ECOWAS' decisions, as well as firm condemnation of the unacceptable coup de force in Niger".

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Source: TRT