The Economic Community of West African States on Thursday ordered the activation of a standby force to possibly use against the military junta that orchestrated a coup in Niger last month, deposing democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum.
“No option is taken off the table, including the use of force as a last resort,” said Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, the chair of the ECOWAS bloc, after a summit of its leaders on Thursday in his country’s capital Abuja. According to reports, the standby force would likely take at least several weeks to assemble.
ECOWAS, a bloc of 15 West African countries, had threatened to use military force against the coup leaders if they failed by August 6 to free and reinstate Bazoum — a key ally of the EU and especially France, which has strong ties to Niger. Paris had reportedly deployed about 1,500 French soldiers in the country under a bilateral military agreement aimed at fighting terrorism, and Niger is a crucial supplier of uranium for France’s 56 nuclear reactors.
French President Emmanuel Macron held an emergency meeting Thursday evening with ministers and his ambassador to Niger. In a statement issued by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Paris said it “affirms its full support for all the conclusions adopted at this extraordinary summit of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government.”
In his statement after the ECOWAS summit, Tinubu said “all is not lost yet.”
“I hope that through our collective effort we can bring about a peaceful resolution as a roadmap to restoring stability and democracy in Niger,” Tinubu said.
Tinubu has been among the most vocal critics of the coup, and was seen as the driving force behind the threat of military action against the junta. But he faced significant backlash at home over his tough stance, as fears grew the situation could escalate into a major regional conflict after the military juntas in Mali and Burkina Faso vowed to defend Niger’s putschists if ECOWAS used force.
There are also fears Russia’s mercenaries could aid the military junta. There is evidence of Moscow’s influence over events in Niger — from claims of direct involvement in the coup by the Wagner Group, which has a deep presence in the region, to junta supporters brandishing Russian flags at demonstrations.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that ECOWAS was “playing a lead role in making clear the imperative of the return to constitutional order, and we very much support ECOWAS’ leadership and work on this.” He did not explicitly back the bloc’s potential use of force in Niger.
