Niger Junta Reveals Next Line Of Action If ECOWAS Deploys Troops

Afimag.com –

Niger Military Junta has threatened to kill the captured President Mohamed Bazoum if the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) try using military intervention to restore democracy in the country.

The military, according to BBC, told top United States diplomat of their plan to slay Bazoum which was by two Western officials to Associated Press on August 10, 2023.

This sprang up following the resolution of the ECOWAS to deploy troops in Niger restore democracy as the coup leaders paid deaf ears to the yearnings of ECOWAS despite the sanctions imposed on them.

Speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, a Western military official said representatives of the junta told the US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland of the threat to Bazoum during her visit to the country.

Recall that Bazoum was ousted on July 26, 2023, and was held hostage at his residence.

Based on the meeting of the ECOWAS Heads of States and Government in Abuja on Thursday, the President of ECOWAS, Omar Touray, said the bloc had directed the deployment of a “standby force” to restore democracy in Niger after the coup.

Though Touray gives no details about the make-up, location and proposed date of deployment for the military intervention force.

Financing had been discussed and “appropriate measures have been taken,” he disclosed.

Reading the resolutions of the ECOWAS on the military junta in Niger at the end of the commission’s extra-ordinary summit, he also called on the African Union, partner countries and institutions to support the decision taken by the sub-regional body.

ECOWAS said the Military Junta declined all efforts made to hold dialogues the coup leaders and denounced the continuous detention of Bazoum and his family members.

Before taking the decision, the authority explained that it considered the memorandum presented by the President of the ECOWAS Commission on the current situation in the Republic of Niger, ECOWAS engagement since the last extraordinary summit; the reports of the envoys sent to Niger and various other places and recommendations of the ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff.

It also extensively discussed the latest development in Niger since the last extra-ordinary summit was held on July 30, noting that all diplomatic efforts made by ECOWAS in resolving the crisis had been defiantly repelled by the military leadership, including the one-week ultimatum given for the restoration of constitutional order in Niger.