By Ayo Yusuf
A crack seemed to have appeared in the rank of member nations of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, as five nations declined to send their defence chiefs to the Abuja meeting to hold further discussions on the application of force against the Niger coupists.
Defence Chiefs from Mali, Niger, Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso, and Guinea were conspicuously absent from the meeting which held at the Defence Headquarters Abuja.
Defence Chiefs from Ghana, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Senegal, The Gambia, Cote D’Ivoire, and Cape Verde were however in attendance at the meeting, which commenced at around 12.30pm.
The meeting, which was presided over by the Nigeria Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa came after the seven-day ultimatum issued by the Economic Community of West African States following the military coup in Niger Republic.
It would be recalled that Commander of Niger’s Presidential Guards, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, had last Friday, toppled the democratically elected government in the country.
The ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, had in its communique issued a series of sanctions against the junta unless it restores constitutional order and reinstate ousted President Muhammed Bazoum into office.
The extraordinary meeting also imposed land and border closures, suspending all commercial flights between Niger and ECOWAS member states.
Announcing the decision, President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Touray, said of all else fails the regional body was prepared to use force to restore democratic governance to Niger.
Towards that end, all Chiefs of Defense Staff of the member states were directed to proceed for an emergency meeting to strategise on effective ways to implement a possible military operation to restore Bazoum to office.
The meeting in Abuja became paramount following the rejection of the one week ultimatum issued by ECOWAS as the junta proceeded to arrest ministers and senior members of the party of the deposed President Mohamed Bazoum.
The Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism said junta forces arrested the ousted government’s mines minister, the head of the ruling party, and oil minister Mahamane Mahamadou, who is also the son of former president Issoufou Mahamadou.
The party added that the interior minister, transport minister, and a deputy were also detained.
The arrests were announced a day after Chadian President Mahamat Deby arrived in Niger to try to mediate between the coup leaders and the ousted government.
A general condemnation of the coup had so far yielded little and the International Monetary Fund which said it was closely monitoring developments had yet to disburse a $131.5m loan to Niger that was approved on July 5.
There are also reports that Germany had suspended financial aid and halted cooperation with Niger as a result of the coup.
Similarly, the EU and France had suspended financial support, while the U.S. had also threatened to do the same.
The refusal of five member states of the ECOWAS to send their defence chiefs to the Abuja Meeting is however seen by some as a sign that these countries do not support the military option been touted by the regional body.
