Adamant Niger Republic junta got a stern warning yesterday from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS): reinstate President Mohammed Bazoum or face military action.
The sub-regional body put its standby force on red alert, a decision taken at its second successive extra-ordinary meeting in one week on last month’s coup in Niger.
The meeting came almost a week after the expiration of a one-week ultimatum to the junta to quit office and restore democratic rule.
The soldiers rebuffed the deadline.
Yesterday’s meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja was attended by eight heads of state in West Africa and the President of Burundi and Mauritania, as well as representatives of the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN).
Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Christoper Musa briefed the meeting on the recommendations of the sub-region’s chiefs of defence staff.
The meeting resolved to, among others
*Direct the Committee of the Chiefs of Defense Staff to activate the ECOWAS standby force with all its elements immediately;
Order the deployment of the ECOWAS standby force to restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger.
It, however, restated the commitment of ECOWAS to a peaceful resolution of the impasse despite the obstinate posture of the junta.
