A military intervention in Niger would be “the last option on the table” to restore the president ousted by a coup d’etat Mohamed Bazoum a week ago, estimated Wednesday an official of the West African bloc, whose leaders threatened to use “force”.
“The military option is the very last option on the table, the last resort, but we must be prepared for this eventuality,” said the commissioner of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in charge of Political Affairs and Security Abdel-Fatau Musah.
He was speaking at the opening of a meeting of West African chiefs of staff in Abuja which is due to end on Friday, two days before the expiration on Sunday of an ECOWAS ultimatum demanding a return to the previous order.
At the same time, Russia called for “dialogue” to avoid a “deterioration of the situation”. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also estimated, according to Russian agencies, that the “threat to use force against a sovereign state will not contribute to defusing tensions and resolving the situation in the country”.
The express evacuation of foreign nationals from Niger continued after the arrival of three planes in Paris and Rome, and was to be completed during the day, according to France.
ECOWAS, chaired by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, imposed heavy sanctions on Niamey and gave the putschists until Sunday to restore former President Mohamed Bazoum, or risk using “force”.
In line with the sanctions taken by ECOWAS, Nigeria has cut off its electricity supply to Niger, which is 70% energy dependent on its neighbour.
An ECOWAS delegation, led by the Nigerian Abdulsalami Abubakar, is currently in Niamey to “negotiate” with the putschists, said one of the organization’s officials.
The junta that overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 and has held him since sent an envoy, General Salifou Mody, to Mali, according to two senior Nigerian and Malian officials.
Mali and Burkina Faso, neighboring countries ruled by the military after military coups in 2020 and 2022, support the junta and have claimed that any armed intervention would be considered “a declaration of war” on their two countries and would lead to their withdrawal from ECOWAS.
The junta on Monday accused France, a former colonial power, of wanting to “intervene militarily”, which Paris firmly denied.
For the time being, Paris and Rome are evacuating their nationals and foreigners who so wish. By midday, more than 500 people had been evacuated, including 312 French people, on board two of the four planes planned by France.
“The evacuation operations from Niger led by France are coming to an end,” the French authorities said in a message to some 1,200 French people registered in Niger.
Among the passengers, there are also Americans, Canadians, Belgians (15), Austrians, Germans, Nigerians, Portuguese, Ethiopians and Lebanese.
This is the first massive evacuation organized by France in the Sahel where coups d’etat have multiplied since 2020.
Paris justified the evacuation by the “violence that took place” against its embassy on Sunday during a demonstration hostile to France, and by “the closure of airspace”.
The junta announced overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday the reopening of Niger’s “land and air borders” with five neighboring countries (Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali and Chad).
For the time being “in Niamey, there are no particular tensions in the city, no particular stress, the population is going about their business”, described a passenger who worked for the EU in Niger on his arrival in Paris. .
“At one point, there was a feeling of insecurity, we knew that everything could change”, testified, relieved, Raïssa Kelembho, returned from Niger with her two boys, whose husband remained in Niger to work.
France, a former colonial power in the region and unfailing support of President Bazoum, appears to be the privileged target of the soldiers who overthrew the latter, led by General Abdourahamane Tiani.
The evacuation of some 1,500 French soldiers posted in Niger is “not on the agenda”, according to the general staff of the French armies.
No question either for the United States, which does not speak of a “coup d’etat”, considering that there is still a “small window” for diplomacy and the restoration of President Bazoum in his functions, to which the secretary of American State Antony Blinken affirmed the “unwavering support of the United States” opposed to “attempts to overthrow the constitutional order”.
02/08/2023 19:39:16 – Abuja (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
