West African leaders ratcheted up their criticism of the coup leaders in Niger on Thursday, ordering the “activation” and “deployment” of a regional standby force to reestablish the rule of law in the nation.
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders called for a deployment “to restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger,” according to a statement read by Omar Alieu Touray, President of the ECOWAS Commission, at a meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, after the one-week deadline they gave the military junta in Niger had passed.
What the “deployment” and “activation” of the force would entail was not immediately obvious. The declaration emphasised a “determination to keep all options on the table for the peaceful resolution of the crisis.”
Since late last month, when the presidential guard overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum in a coup d’état, Niger has been mired in political upheaval. Days afterwards, ECOWAS responded by imposing sanctions and giving the military junta in power one week to disband or risk military intervention.
On Sunday, August 6, that deadline passed without causing the political climate to change. The leaders of ECOWAS have stated that they would only send soldiers in a last-ditch effort to resolve the problem diplomatically.
The regional bloc will “uphold all measures and principles agreed upon by the extraordinary summit held on Niger on July 30th 2023,” whereby severe penalties were established against the military regime in Niger.
Touray also issued a warning over the repercussions for “member states who by their action directly or indirectly, hinder the peaceful resolution of the crisis.”
The president of Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara, revealed that all the leaders of the 15-nation ECOWAS organisation had attempted to communicate with the junta but had been warned that they would hold the leader “as a hostage” instead.
We must take action; we cannot allow this to continue, added Ouattara.
He said that he had told his country to mobilise soldiers in preparation of the ECOWAS operation, saying the military junta should fight extremists “and not try to kidnap a democratically elected president.”
Mali and Burkina Faso, led by soldiers who overthrew the government, have declared their support for the Niger junta and issued a warning that any military action will be interpreted as an act of war. Additionally, Guinea has endorsed Niger.
A military source told CNN that the Nigerian armed forces appeared to be getting ready for a potential military intervention this week. At dusk on Sunday evening, a convoy of about 40 pick-up trucks carrying troops from other parts of the nation entered the capital.
Assembling the ECOWAS forces takes time, several analysts told CNN that a military action in Niger was probably not near.
According to Murtala Abdullahi, a defence and security expert based in Abuja, the communique is “about mobilising the necessary resources should an intervention be needed, but it’s also a signal to the junta in Niger that ECOWAS is prepared to take necessary actions, including force, should talks fail.”
The bloc provided no timetable, and the current head, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, insisted that using force would only be a last choice. Abdourahamane Alkassoum, a security analyst for CNN, noted that the Nigerien military has been gaining popularity locally as ECOWAS continued to talk tough, suggesting that the news may be interpreted in Niger as being more urgent.
Another analyst recalled that ECOWAS‘s deployment to Gambia in 2017—a less challenging assignment than Niger—took 7 weeks.
According to Cameron Hudson, a senior associate at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, “the mission to Gambia was much more straightforward.” A hostage rescue of a president who is under house arrest and being exploited as a human shield by the junta would take place in Niger, not only as an intervention.
He continued, “Niger has a sizeable army that has been trained by the US and is battle-tested after years of a counterinsurgency.