A date has been assigned for ECOWAS to intervene militarily in Niger to restore constitutional status, defense chiefs said on Friday.
“D-day is also decided. We have already agreed and fine-tuned what will be required for the intervention,” Aljazeera quoted ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security Abdel-Fatau Musah as saying.
Although he did not reveal the specific day, he added that “we are ready to go any time the order is given.”
Defense chiefs held a two-day meeting in Accra, Ghana, to discuss deploying a standby force to Niger as directed by the heads of state.
The heads of state of the subregional bloc ordered last Thursday the activation and deployment of a reserve force in case the military junta refuses to return to power the detained president Mohamed Bazoum.
The bloc has agreed to use force if all diplomatic efforts fail. On Friday, Musah said the bloc is still preparing a mediation mission in Niger, “so we haven’t closed any doors.”
“Let no one doubt that if all else fails, the brave West African forces, both the military and civilian component, stand ready to answer the call of duty,” Musah was quoted as saying by Aljazeera.
But for Cape Verde, Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, most of ECOWAS’s 15 member states are prepared to contribute to the joint force, he said.
Many member states would need the approval of their parliaments to deploy soldiers to Niger. It is unclear how many troops each country will send.
However, Nigeria, with the largest army in West Africa, is expected to provide most of the troops needed. The Nigerian parliament had previously opposed troop deployment to Niger, although the president has yet to make a specific request for troop deployment. However, the Nigerian constitution allows the president to deploy troops even without the parliamentary approval that he might seek after deployment.
“The President, in consultation with the National Defense Council, may deploy members of the Federation armed forces on limited combat duty outside Nigeria if satisfied that the national security is under threat or imminent danger”, section 5 (5) of the Nigerian constitution says.
He added that the president must, within seven days after the actual combat, seek the consent of the Senate and the Senate must grant or reject such consent within 14 days.
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Many Nigerians have opposed military intervention with some like the influential Islamic council, NSCIA, even condemning the sanctions imposed on Niger by ECOWAS after the coup.
Presidential guards led by General Abdourahmane Tchiani arrested Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 and dissolved the constitution.
In response to the coup, ECOWAS called an emergency meeting in which it imposed harsh economic sanctions on Niger, including a seven-day ultimatum on the coup leaders to reinstate the ousted president.
The coup leaders defied ECOWAS and formed a new government on the eve of the second emergency meeting called by the bloc.
Last Saturday, a Nigerian delegation of Islamic scholars met with the junta leaders for negotiations, after which the junta leader agreed to talks with ECOWAS. Prior to that, two attempts by ECOWAS to meet with the junta’s leader, Mr. Tchiani, had failed.
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