The meeting was suspended a day after the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said it would deploy a standby force in its bid to reinstate the country’s deposed leader, the AFP reports. West African nations have suspended a key military meeting on the crisis in Niger, earlier scheduled for Saturday. The meeting was suspended a day after the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said it would deploy a standby force in its bid to reinstate the country’s deposed leader, the AFP reports.
Fears also mounted for elected president Mohamed Bazoum, who was ousted by members of his guard on 26 July. His daughter, Zazia Bazoum, told the Guardian that Bazoum, his wife and son were being held without electricity or clean water, were rapidly losing weight and were relying on supplies of rice and pasta, although their gas oven is running out of fuel. The meeting of chiefs of staff from the regional bloc countries was scheduled to hold on Saturday in Ghana’s capital Accra. But they later said that it had been suspended indefinitely for “technical reasons”.
The sources said the meeting was originally set up to inform the organisation’s leaders about “the best options” for activating and deploying the standby force. SaharaReporters on Thursday reported that Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, Chairman of the regional bloc, said “No option is taken off the tables including the use of force as the last resort” in his closing remarks at the extraordinary meeting of ECOWAS leaders in Abuja on Thursday.The bloc 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.
The bloc also called on the African Union, AU, partner countries and institutions to support the resolution taken by the sub-regional body. ECOWAS 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. Earlier, Tinubu said, “We prioritise diplomatic negotiations and dialogue as the bedrock of our approach." He continued: "Regrettably, the seven-day ultimatum we issued during the first summit has not yielded the desired outcome. We must engage all parties involved, including the coup leaders, in earnest discussions to convince them to relinquish power and reinstate President Bazoum. "It is our duty to exhaust all avenues of engagement to ensure a swift return to constitutional governance in Niger."