West Africa\u2019s main regional bloc ECOWAS has agreed a \u201cD-day\u201d for a possible military intervention to restore democracy in Niger if diplomatic efforts fail, a senior official said on Friday, without disclosing the exact date.<\/p>\n
The official made the comments at the end of a two-day meeting of West African army chiefs in Ghana\u2019s capital Accra, where they have been hashing out the logistics and strategy for a possible use of force in Niger that ECOWAS has said would be a last resort. reports AlArabia English News service.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are ready to go anytime the order is given,\u201d ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security Abdel-Fatau Musah said during the closing ceremony.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve already agreed and fine-tuned what will be required for the intervention,\u201d he said, emphasizing that it was still seeking to engage with the junta peacefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we speak we are still readying (a) mediation mission into the country, so we have not shut any door.\u201d<\/p>\n
Military officers deposed Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 and have defied calls from the United Nations, ECOWAS and others to reinstate him, prompting the bloc to order a standby force to be assembled.<\/p>\n
Most of its 15 member states are prepared to contribute to the joint force excepting those also under military rule – Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea – and tiny Cape Verde, an ECOWAS official said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Defense chiefs have declined to say how many troops will be deployed or other strategic details.
\nAny intervention would further destabilize West Africa\u2019s impoverished Sahel region, which is already battling a decade-old extremist insurgency.<\/p>\n
Niger also has strategic importance beyond West Africa because of its uranium and oil reserves and role as a hub for foreign troops involved in the fight against the insurgents linked to al-Qaeda and ISIS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
West Africa\u2019s main regional bloc ECOWAS has agreed a \u201cD-day\u201d for a possible military intervention to restore democracy in Niger if diplomatic efforts fail, a senior official said on Friday, without disclosing the exact date. The official made the comments at the end of a two-day meeting of West African army chiefs in Ghana\u2019s capital […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":136650,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-world-news"],"yoast_head":"\n