On July 26, Niger witnessed a military coup for the fifth time since the country gained independence from France in the 1960s.
On that day, the presidential guards detained President Mohamed Bazoum, and commander General Abdourahamane Tchiani proclaimed himself the leader of a new military junta.
In a televised address, soldiers announced that they had removed the president from power, seized control of the government and suspended the constitution.
The coup leaders justified their actions by claiming that it was in response to the “continuing deterioration of the security situation”, adding that the president’s measures did not go far enough to protect Niger.
The putschists also pointed to the country’s collapsing economic position as another reason.
They also closed the country’s borders and suspended all institutions of the republic, and announced a national curfew. The soldiers warned against any foreign intervention.
The apparent coup was said to be led by the head of a regional political and security group.
Apart from the international players like Russia and the United States, the regional bloc ECOWAS or the Economic Community of West African States has been playing an active role.
The ECOWAS threatened to intervene militarily if the coup leaders fail to restore constitutional order. It had also given the Niger military junta a deadline to adhere to its demands, but it did not yield any desired results.
Following this, ECOWAS said it has activated the ‘standby force’ to “restore constitutional order” in Niger.
It said that its intervention aims to bring back ousted President Mohamed Bazoum to rule Niger.
The Niger junta, in response, reportedly issued a call for volunteers to resist ECOWAS “invaders”.
Established in 1975 through the Lagos Treaty, ECOWAS’s aim is to promote economic integration among its members through a single common currency and create a single trading bloc in areas of industry, transport, telecommunications, energy, financial issues, and social and cultural matters.
According to its website, the vision of ECOWAS is the creation of a “borderless region” that is well-integrated.
“ECOWAS is meant to be a region governed in accordance with the principles of democracy, rule of law and good governance,” it states.
At the helm of its organisation structure is the Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government. The Chairman is the current Head of State and Government and is appointed by other Heads of State and Government to oversee its affairs for one year.
It has 15 members: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’ Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Togo. Around 400 million people live in this region.
However, Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso, were suspended after the civilian government was overthrown and the ECOWAS leaders refused to recognise their new governments.
Apart from their stated goals of economic cooperation, ECOWAS has been busy in attempting to prevent military conflicts in the region.
AP news agency states that ECOWAS operated as a regional peacekeeping operation known as ECOMOG, led by Nigeria in the 1990s and early 2000s, in Liberia when forces were first deployed in 1990 during the deadly civil war and in Sierra Leone in 1997 when a democratically elected government was overthrown.
In 2017, it intervened in Gambia after longtime president Yahya Jammeh refused to step down after losing the elections which eventually led to the winner Adama Burrow coming to power. It has sent its troops to other countries but never to Niger.
Notably, Niger coup’s leader Gen. Tchiani has previously served as battalion commander for ECOWAS peacekeepers in Ivory Coast after a ceasefire between government and rebel forces in 2003.
For all intents and purposes, ECOWAS leaders plan to intervene militarily, though Niger putschists have said that they will give an apt response.
ECOWAS had set a deadline for mutinous soldiers to release and reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum earlier this month.
But the junta leaders didn’t toe the line, following which the military chiefs from West African states on Thursday began two days of discussions in Ghana’s capital of Accra about the ongoing crisis in Niger.
West African regional bloc ECOWAS said the meeting was being held “to finalize plans for the deployment of the Standby Force.”
“Democracy is what we stand for and it’s what we encourage,” Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Gwabin Musa, told the meeting.
“The focus of our gathering is not simply to react to events, but to proactively chart a course that results in peace and promotes stability,” he added.
He listed past ECOWAS deployments in Gambia, Liberia and elsewhere as examples of readiness.
“If push comes to shove we are going into Niger with our own contingents and equipment and our own resources to make sure we restore constitutional order. If other democratic partners want to support us they are welcome,” he said.
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(With inputs from agencies)
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