The foreign ministers of Burkina Faso and Mali, Olivia Rouamba and Abdoulaye Diop, were visiting Niamey on Thursday August 24, where they were received by Niger’s new strongman, General Abdourahamane Tiani.
These neighboring countries of Niger “welcomed” the signing of orders “authorizing the defense and security forces of Burkina Faso and Mali to intervene in Nigerien territory in the event of aggression”, according to a press release read by Oumarou Ibrahim Sidi , the Deputy Secretary General of the Nigerien Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the end of the visit.
Burkina and Mali, faced like Niger with recurrent jihadist violence, are also led by soldiers who took power by force between 2020 and 2022. Very soon after the July 26 coup in Niamey, they showed their solidarity with the new Nigerien authorities, in particular in the face of the threat brandished by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to intervene militarily to restore constitutional order.
” Declaration of war “
The two countries had thus warned ECOWAS against any intervention in Niger, which would be likened to a “declaration of war”, which they repeated on Thursday. General Tiani for his part assured on Saturday that such an armed operation would not be “not the walk in the park that some believe”.
When an ECOWAS delegation was in Niamey to find a peaceful solution to the crisis, General Tiani announced that he was considering a transition of “three years” maximum before returning power to civilians. ECOWAS has found the plan proposed by the junta unacceptable, and demands, for its part, the reinstatement of President Mohamed Bazoum in his functions.
If the West African organization explores the diplomatic way to achieve this objective, it always agitates the threat of the use of force.