By Agency Report
West African army chiefs were due to hold a second and final day of talks on Friday in Ghana’s capital Accra, where they have been hashing out the details of a possible military intervention in Niger if diplomacy fails to reverse a military coup.
Military officers deposed Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 and have defied calls from the United Nations, the West African bloc ECOWAS and others to reinstate him, prompting regional powers to order a standby force to be assembled.
West African army chiefs were due to hold a second and final day of talks on Friday in Ghana’s capital Accra, where they have been hashing out the details of a possible military intervention in Niger if diplomacy fails to reverse a military coup.
Military officers deposed Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 and have defied calls from the United Nations, the West African bloc ECOWAS and others to reinstate him, prompting regional powers to order a standby force to be assembled.
He said most of the bloc’s 15 member states were prepared to participate in the standby force excepting those also under military rule – Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea – and tiny Cape Verde.
Any escalation would further destabilise West Africa’s impoverished Sahel region, which is already battling a decade-old Islamist insurgency.
Niger also has strategic importance beyond West Africa because of its uranium and oil reserves and role as a hub for foreign troops involved in the fight against the insurgents linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State. NB: Culled from Reuters.
