Military leadership names ministers in Niger, ahead of ECOWAS summit

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Niger's coup leaders have refused to stand down despite ECOWAS threatening to use force to restore democracy [File: Sam Mednick/AP]

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*Refuses to stand down despite bloc’s ultimatum

By OUR REPORTER, Niamey with Agency reports

We can authoritatively report that the military administration in the Republic of Niger has come to stay, with the latest insistence not to reinstate ousted President Mohamadou Bazoum and announcement of 21 people who the coup leaders now say will become ministers in a new government, and doing so ahead of a summit of the Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) holding in Abuja, the Nigeria’s capital today.

The regional bloc leaders are meeting in Abuja today to decide on their next action after the seven-day ultimatum given the new military government in Niger to reinstate President Bazoum elapsed without the soldiers yielding to their demand.

The DEFENDER’s Reporter in Niamey, capital of the Francophone West African country captured by military rulers Wednesday July 26, 2023, said that Mahamane Roufai Laouali, who was said to be to be the Secretary to the Military Government, read out the names of the new ministers on state television in the early hours of Thursday August 10, without specifying any further plans.

Three of the generals, who helped in the July 26 removal of President Mohamadou Bazoum, were named Ministers of Defence, Interior and Sports in the government, which is about half the size of the previous one.

ECOWAS Heads of State are scheduled to hold a summit in Abuja this Thursday to agree on a plan of action for Niger, where the coup leaders have refused to stand down.

The DEFENDER reported yesterday statement by Human Rights Activist and Chairman of Dialogue Group, Mr. Mahdi Shehu, in which he talked about how Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu’s underrating his planned war in Niger will not only cost him the ECOWAS but also Nigeria.

Shehu had told a “What’s Trending on Arise TV”, a Nigeria-based global television network, that the North of Nigeria could not wait for Thursday to come for the ECOWAS meeting for the Tinubu-led regional bloc to move its troops to Niger, adding that any attack on Niger is attack on entire Nigeria not only the North.

He said Tinubu, knowing full well that ECOWAS was not in slumber when Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso under military rule took over and did not wage war against them, is now quick to threaten wall against Niger because of vested interest of America and United Kingdom he wants to protect.

Mahdi bought into his discussion the case of scorpion he called the smallest of insect that is the worst headache for a camel, saying anyone that knows the desert would know that when a camel sees scorpion it runs like hell because as big as the camel, it takes no much effort for the desert animal to be killed by scorpion as big as camel.

He then said whereas Niger will be the scorpion, ECOWAS will be the camel, adding that if the bloc leaders were to be be prisoners of history rather than being prisoners of geography, they would have acted differently.

Since the coup, which shocked the region, ECOWAS has been calling for Bazoum’s reinstatement. It imposed a number of sanctions including a no-fly zone and has threatened the possible use of force to restore democracy.

The defiant putschists rebuffed diplomatic overtures and ignored an August 6 deadline by ECOWAS to restore civilian rule. Military governments in neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso have promised to treat any military intervention in Niger as a declaration of war on them.

President of the Russian Federation, General Vladimir Putin, has warned ECOWAS against the use of force against Niger just as many other commentators have warned President Tinubu of Nigeria not to lead ECOWAS into a war situation that will make Niger another Ukraine and Sudan.

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has voiced concerns about Bazoum and his family after his party reported that they were being detained at the presidential residence without electricity or running water, and had gone days without fresh food.

“The secretary-general … once again calls for his immediate, unconditional release and his reinstatement as head of state,” a UN spokesperson reportedly said on Wednesday.

The meeting in Nigerian capital, Abuja, could prove a pivotal moment in the standoff. The bloc’s leaders are expected to agree on next steps, which could include military intervention – something an ECOWAS official has said would be a last resort.

Sadeeq Garba Shehu, a security analyst and adjunct professor at the Marshall European Centre for Security Studies, said that after the coup leaders “called the bluff of the ECOWAS” following the expiration of the seven-day deadline, the ball was in the bloc’s court.

“It’s a very decisive moment for ECOWAS and its leaders,” he told Al Jazeera from Abuja. Pressing ahead with the option of the use of force “is a position that is fraught with dangers and uncertainties”, Shehu said.

“First, will there be acceptance by all the members to put their money where their mouth is? How many of the ECOWAS members are ready to do that? How many are ready to finance that?” Shehu added, noting that West African leaders had to also consider domestic pressures from their countries’ own populations.

On Wednesday, His Royal Highness Khalifah Muhammadu Sanusi II met the military government leaders in the Nigerien capital, Niamey, offering a glimmer of hope for dialogue after previous ECOWAS missions were spurned.

And after a meeting with Nigerian President and ECOWAS Chairman Bola Tinubu in Abuja, Sanusi II told Nigerian press in Abuja that “interventions are ongoing and will continue”.

“This is a time for public diplomacy. It’s not a matter that we leave to governments. All Nigerians, all Nigeriens need to be involved to find a solution that works for Africa, for Niger, for Nigeria and for humanity,” he said.

The 57th (14th from the Fulani extractions) Emir of the Northern Nigerian city of Kano, Sanusi II is also a leader of the Nigerian Order of the Tijaniyyah Sufi Muslim sect with origins in Algeria but with followers across West Africa, including Niger.

Emir Sanusi was yet to respond to an email enquiry sent to him by The DEFENDER on Wednesday per adventure he could avail the Nigeria’s only multi-lingual newspaper with details of his mission to Niamey.

Any escalation would further destabilise West Africa’s Sahel region, one of the world’s poorest, where long-running violence from armed groups has displaced millions and stoked a hunger crisis.

Niger was suspended from ECOWAS following the military coup, just as Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali were suspended after coups occurred there in the last three years. The trio were however restored to the regional bloc during Sunday July 3, 2022 meeting in Ghana presided over by Ghananian President as Chairman of the ECOWAS and attended by then Vice President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), who represented the then President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari.


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