West African Military Chiefs To Meet In Ghana Over Niger Republic Crisis

Again, military chiefs from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region have been summoned for a meeting in Ghana over the brewing crisis in the Republic of Niger.

Naija News understands that the meeting was initially scheduled to hold in Accra, Ghana, last Saturday but was later postponed.

However, AFP said the regional military and political sources revealed on Tuesday the meeting would now hold on Thursday and Friday, August 17th to 18.

The military chiefs are expected to deliberate on possible military intervention in Niger. The said meeting is coming not long after a summit held in Abuja last Thursday by leaders of the West African bloc, which ordered the deployment of a standby force in the effort to reinstate the democratically elected leader of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum.

Recall that Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is the Chairman of the ECOWAS, said earlier that “No option is taken off the tables including the use of force as a last resort.”

Tinubu said this in his closing remarks at the extraordinary meeting of ECOWAS leaders in Abuja last Thursday, Naija News reports.

ECOWAS had also directed the immediate enforcement and monitoring of sanctions on the Republic of Niger military junta. Also, the bloc ordered the “deployment of the ECOWAS stand-by force to restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger”.

The President of ECOWAS, Omar Alieu Touray, declared this while reading the resolution of the bloc on the Niger coup following the extraordinary meeting in Abuja.

ECOWAS had also called on the African Union, AU, partner countries and institutions to support the resolutions taken by the sub-regional body. It lamented that efforts made to have peaceful dialogue with the military junta in Niger were rebuffed.

It also directed the “committee of the Chief of Defence Staff to activate the ECOWAS standby force with all its elements immediately”.

It, however, declared its willingness to embrace diplomacy in resolving the political crisis in the country.