West African army chiefs will meet in the coming days to prepare plans for a possible military intervention in Niger, a spokesperson for the regional bloc ECOWAS said on Friday, as concern grew over the detention conditions of ousted President Mohamed Bazoum.
The ECOWAS bloc ordered the activation of a standby force on Thursday, two weeks after generals ousted Bazoum in the seventh coup in West and Central Africa in three years.
The chiefs of staff meeting indicates that West African nations are stepping up preparations to commit troops for a possible action to reverse the coup.
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“One (meeting) is being planned for next week,” the ECOWAS spokesperson said. A Nigerian official and an Ivory Coast army source said the meeting would be held on Saturday in Ghana.
It was not yet clear how big the force will be, how long it will take to assemble, and if it will actually invade.
But the proposed mission has raised the spectre of deepening conflict in a strategically important region where Western powers have lost sway during the spate of coups and where Russian influence appears on the rise.
ECOWAS – the Economic Community of West African States – said all options were on the table and it still hoped for a peaceful resolution to the Niger crisis.
Security analysts said an ECOWAS force could take weeks or longer to assemble, potentially leaving room for negotiations.
Ivory Coast is the only country so far to specify how many troops it would send. President Alassane Ouattara on Thursday promised a battalion of 850 troops.
Benin’s army spokesman said on Friday it would contribute troops but did not say how many. Senegal said last week it would contribute troops if there were an intervention.
Most other ECOWAS countries – including regional heavyweight Nigeria, which holds its rotating presidency – have so far declined to comment.
Gambia’s defence minister Sering Modou Njie and Liberia’s minister of information Ledgerhood Rennie told newsmen Friday they had not yet taken a decision to send troops.
Military governments in neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, both ECOWAS members, have said they will defend the junta in Niger.
The junta has yet to react to ECOWAS’ decision although it has given no indication that it might relinquish power.
Editor Oloyede Oworu
