The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) says the bloc has assembled all resources and perfected plans to invade Niger Republic to force out the military junta and reinstate its democratically elected leader, President Mohamed Bazoum.
“All the elements that would go into any eventual intervention have been brought out here and been refined, including the timing, the resources needed and the how and where and when we are going to deploy such a force,” assured Abdel-Fatau Musah, ECOWAS commissioner for political affairs, peace and security at a meeting with other ECOWAS chiefs in Abuja on Friday.
“We will make them handover to the civilian authorities,” Mr Musah added.
Representatives from Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Guinea were conspicuously absent at the ECOWAS meeting, which held in Abuja, Nigeria, on Friday.
There are still two days left before the ultimatum ECOWAS gave the junta to stand down and allow democracy to reign but Abdouramane Tchiani seems implacable and unwilling to back down, evidenced in an announcement to cut off ties with its neighbour, Nigeria and three other nations.
On Thursday, he announced Niger was severing all diplomatic relations with France, Nigeria, Togo and the U.S. and further asked the ambassadors to those countries to return.
The delegation ECOWAS chair, President Bola Tinubu, also sent to make peaceful talks with the junta met a dead-end in their mission as they were unable to meet Mr Tchiani and also denied entry to Niamey, the nation’s capital, a report by AP said.
