West African bloc scraps crisis meeting on Niger coup

As ECOWAS leaders fail to meet, concerns over the deteriorating health of deposed President Bazoum mount.

Published On 12 Aug 202312 Aug 2023

An emergency meeting of West African nations on the coup in Niger has been postponed indefinitely as concerns over the health of detained President Mohammed Bazoum increase.

Members of the Economic Cooperation of West African Nations (ECOWAS) were due to meet in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, on Saturday to discuss how to tackle the Niger crisis after they approved the deployment of a stand-by force to restore constitutional order.

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But the meeting was indefinitely suspended for “technical reasons”. Sources said the meeting was initially set to inform the organisation’s leaders about “the best options” for activating and deploying a military force.

“The military option seriously envisaged by ECOWAS is not a war against Niger and its people but a police operation against hostage-takers and their accomplices,” Niger’s Foreign Minister Hassoumi Massaoudou said.

ECOWAS is determined to stop the sixth military takeover in the region in just three years and has severed financial transactions and electricity supplies and closed borders with landlocked Niger, blocking much-needed imports to one of the world’s poorest countries.

At a previous summit last week, ECOWAS warned it could intervene militarily and set August 6 as a deadline for the military to restore democracy and free Bazoum. However, no military action followed when the deadline lapsed.