The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) yesterday continued its hard stance on the military junta in Niger Republic, with a supplementary sanctions against entities and individuals linked with the coupists.
The regional bloc had previously given the junta a seven-day ultimatum to reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum. ECOWAS had underscored the possibility of sanctions, including the potential for military intervention, if the junta failed to comply.
But the coup leaders dismissed the threats and declared their intention to resist any foreign interference.
The African leaders are billed to take crucial decisions regarding the situation in Niger Republic at the extraordinary summit of ECOWAS tomorrow.
Nigeria’s presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, who disclosed this to State House correspondents yesterday at the presidential villa, said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed the acting governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to implement the fresh sanctions.
He noted that the measures are not the result of unilateral action by a single nation, but rather the outcome of a consensus reached by all ECOWAS member states and their respective heads of state.
The presidential spokesperson noted that the financial sanctions are a collective response to the military junta’s actions in Niger Republic.
According to Ngelale, the additional sanctions had been imposed on individuals and entities associated with the military junta in Niger Republic.
He said, “The news that Mr. President has directed the acting CBN governor to levy another slate of sanctions against entities and individuals associated with the military junta in Niger public.
“I said that intentionally I didn’t make a mistake, because I was given permission to make that statement and I emphasised that this is not an individual action taken by an individual President on behalf of an individual nation.
“This is an action taken yes, by ECOWAS chairman who is the president of Nigeria, but standing on the authority provided by the consensus resolution of all ECOWAS members and heads of state with regard to financial sanctions being levied by ECOWAS Member States against the military junta in Niger Republic.
“There is an authority that we are standing on. It is not the Nigerian government’s authority, it is the authority of the resolution passed in public before now.”
Ngelale also maintained that the actions against Niger being coordinated by President Tinubu are not personal, as they are under the auspices of the ECOWAS where he is the Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government.
He stated: “Concerning the ultimatum given to the military Junta in Niger Republic, the ECOWAS mandate, and ultimatum is not a Nigerian ultimatum. It is not a Nigerian mandate.
“And the office of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, also serving as the chairman of ECOWAS, seeks to emphasize this point, that due to certain domestic and international media coverage, tending toward a personalization of the ECOWAS sub regional position to his person and to our nation individually.
“It is because of this that Mr. President has deemed it necessary to state unequivocally that the mandate and ultimatum by issued ECOWAS is that of ECOWAS’ position.
“While his Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has assumed the ECOWAS chairmanship, the position of ECOWAS conveys the consensus position of member heads of state. And a coup will not occur in one’s backyard, without one being particularly aware of it.
“The president in recent days, particularly following the expiration of the ultimatum given by ECOWAS has widened consultations internationally but most especially domestically, including interfaces with state governors in Nigeria, who govern states bordering Niger public on the various fallouts and outcomes of the unfortunate situation that has unfolded in Niger Republic.
“But President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, wishes to emphasize to this distinguished audience that the response of ECOWAS to the military coup in Niger has been and will remain devoid of ethnic and religious sentiments and considerations.
“The regional bloc is made up of all sub regional ethnic groups, religious groups, and all other forms of human diversity. And the response of ECOWAS, therefore, represents all of these groups, and not any of these groups individually.”
He mentioned that the extraordinary summit of ECOWAS on Thursday will result in significant decisions regarding the situation in Niger Republic.
Meanwhile, a delegation of the representatives of the African Union (AU), ECOWAS and the United Nations (UN) yesterday travelled to Niger to meet with coup leaders.
French broadcaster, RFI, reported that the delegation was set to arrive in the Nigerien capital city of Niamey “in the coming hours” to hold talks with the rebels on behalf of the international community.
The move was in a bid to restore the country’s disbanded institutions, the broadcaster reported.
According to the broadcaster, the Nigerian government had also stated that Nigeria can provide more than half of the 25,000 troops for the invasion of Niger if necessary, citing a Nigerian official.
It added that military from Senegal, Benin and Cote d’Ivoire could also participate in the operation.
On 26 July 2023, a coup d’état occurred in Niger when the country’s presidential guard detained President Mohamed Bazoum and presidential guard commander General Abdourahamane Tchiani proclaimed himself the leader of a new military junta.
The presidential guard thereby closed the country’s borders, suspended state institutions, and declared a curfew.
This was the fifth military coup d’état since the country gained independence from France in 1960, and the first since 2010.
On August 6, 57,000 soldiers were counted among the putschists, and 245,000 on the ECOWAS side, with France refusing to intervene.
Also yesterday, the Niger coup leaders on Tuesday, vowed to resist external pressure to reinstate ousted President Mohamed Bazoum after ECOWAS imposed sanctions and Western allies suspended aid.
The seventh power grab in West and Central Africa in three years has attracted global attention, partly due to Niger’s pivotal role in a war with Islamist militants.
It is also because of its uranium and oil reserves that gives it economic and strategic importance for the United States, Europe, China and Russia.
West African countries and global powers hope for a window of opportunity for mediation with Niger’s coup leaders, before a Thursday summit that could agree on military intervention to restore democracy.
ECOWAS has scheduled the summit to discuss its standoff with the Niger junta, which seized power on July 26 and ignored an Aug. 6 deadline to stand down.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told French radio station RFI that “there’s no doubt that diplomacy is the best way to resolve this situation.”
The United States is backing the regional bloc’s efforts to restore constitutional order, he said. He declined to comment on the future of some 1,100 U.S. troops in Niger.
In a sign of the United States’ interest in the country, U.S. acting deputy secretary of state Victoria Nuland flew to Niamey on Monday.
She held “frank and difficult” talks with senior junta officials but said they did not take up U.S. suggestions for restoring democratic order.
The 15-nation ECOWAS bloc has taken a harder stance on the Niger coup than it did on other recent government overthrows. Its credibility is at stake because it had said that coups would no longer be tolerated.
ECOWAS defence chiefs agreed on Friday on a possible military action plan if Bazoum was not released and reinstated, although they said operational decisions would be taken by heads of state.
Any use of force by ECOWAS would risk further destabilising one of the world’s poorest regions, making such an intervention unlikely, according to risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.
“The bloc understands that a military intervention would be very costly, with no guarantee of success over the long term, and with a significant risk of escalation into a regional war,” its Africa analyst, Ben Hunter, said in a note.
“It is fundamentally not in the interests of regional states.”
The bloc also sent a delegation to Niger last week to try to negotiate with the junta, but a source in the entourage said their efforts were rebuffed.
In Nigeria, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has called for the lifting of sanctions against Niger Republic by Tinubu and ECOWAS.
The forum called for more dialogue with the military junta to prevent a further breakdown of talks following the expiration of the one-week deadline earlier given to the regime to restore democratic rule in the country.
A statement issued by national publicity secretary of the forum, Prof. Tukur Muhammad-Baba, reiterated the forum’s condemnation of the coup and demanded that the personal safety of President Mohamed Bazoum and members of his government be guaranteed by the coup leaders.
It further recalled that Nigeria and Niger have had brotherly relations over the years and upon reviewing the latest political impasse, economic sanctions and expiration of the one-week deadline given to the military junta in Niger, it has come to the conclusion that dialogue remains the best option to avoid a catastrophic occurrence of events between the two nations and the West African sub-region.
The forum urged the utilisation of all available goodwill, diplomatic, political, economic and human assets to win back the confidence of the people of Niger, who have, historically, come to regard Nigeria as a ‘Big Brother’.
The statement added: “Towards boosting confidence measures, the ACF urges President Tinubu and ECOWAS to review the situation and restore full dialogue with the Nigerien military junta through the immediate lifting of the economic blockade and other sanctions imposed on the country as a sign of goodwill to facilitate swift dialogue.
“We call on President Tinubu and ECOWAS to revisit their approach to the Niger imbroglio based on concrete realities including the fact that most countries surrounding Niger Republic are not all in the ECOWAS region as Algeria, Libya and Chad may view a potential military aggression as a declaration of war against their borders. With Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinean military juntas also declaring support for the Niger coup leaders, the situation calls for caution so as not to further conflagrate the West African region”.
The ACF commended the members of the Northern Senators Forum for convincing their colleagues in the Senate to totally reject the outright use of force against Niger Republic in an effort to see to the restoration of democratic governance in that country.
It expresses appreciation to the upper chamber of the National Assembly for toeing the line of a peaceful approach to the resolution of the potentially catastrophic conflict.
“We strongly call on our government to intensify efforts towards further exploitation of peaceful, political and diplomatic measures to find a solution to the problem. As such, we want the Nigerian government to Immediately restore the supply of electricity to Niger Republic and open all our borders with that country and allow free flow of people and goods into and from that country to Nigeria,” ACF stated.
ACF urged the Nigerian government to suspend all sanctions/restrictions imposed on that country in response to the calls by ECOWAS, AU, or any other authority/country(ies), and sustain consultation with relevant leaders within and outside Nigeria ahead of Thursday’s fresh meeting of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Governments.
Finally, the ACF further reiterated that ECOWAS and the rest of the international community must demand a very short timeline from the coup leaders within which to hand power back to elected leaders of Niger Republic.
