Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu, who is also the Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS), has convened another Extraordinary Summit of the Authority, on the political crisis in the Republic of Niger.
In attendance at the meeting held at the State House Conference Centre is President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone, President. Umaro Mokhtar Sissoco of Guinea Bissau, President Everiste Ndayishimiye of Burundi, President Alassane Ouattara of Cote d’Ivoire and President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani of Mauritania.
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Others are President Nana Akofo-Ado of Ghana, President Macky Sall of Senegal and President Patrice Talon of the Benin Republic.
Also expected at the meeting are Togo’s Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé Eyadéma, and President Adama Barrow of the Gambia.
The Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS), which has previously sent military forces into troubled member states and imposed sanctions, had told the coup leaders to stand down by Sunday.
But the coup leaders instead closed Niger’s airspace and pledged to defend the country.
Landlocked Niger is more than twice the size of France, and many flight paths across Africa would normally pass through its airspace.
Air France suspended flights to and from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso and Bamako in Mali, which both border Niger, until Friday, and warned that some flight times would increase.
The 15-nation bloc has taken a harder stance on the Niger coup, the region’s seventh in three years, than it did on previous ones.
ECOWAS defence chiefs agreed on Friday on a possible military action plan, if the detained president, Mohamed Bazoum, was not released and reinstated, although they said operational decisions would be decided by their heads of state.
However, the bloc is not united. The military governments in Mali and Burkina Faso, both ECOWAS members, have promised to come to the defence of their counterparts in Niger if needed.
(Editor: Ifeanyi Mark)
