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🔴 Live: ECOWAS says ‘no option taken off table’ as emergency summit on Niger closes
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, chair of West African regional bloc ECOWAS, said on Thursday at the close of a summit on the coup in Niger that “no option had been taken off the table”, including the use of force as a last resort. The summit took place as Niger’s coup leaders announced they had formed a new government. Read our live blog for all the latest developments. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
Issued on: 10/08/2023 – 07:01
Modified: 10/08/2023 – 18:08
4 min
Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President of Nigeria and Chairperson of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), addresses the ECOWAS head of states and government in Abuja on July 30, 2023.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President of Nigeria and Chairperson of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), addresses the ECOWAS head of states and government in Abuja on July 30, 2023. © Kola Sulaimon, AFP
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FRANCE 24
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FRANCE 24
6:09pm: ECOWAS orders activation of its standby force
The West African regional bloc ECOWAS on Thursday ordered the activation of its standby force over a coup in Niger on July 26, according to a communique read out at the end of the regional summit.
5:52pm: ‘No option taken off table’ as ECOWAS summit on Niger crisis closes
Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s president and chair of the West African regional bloc ECOWAS, on Thursday closed an emergency summit on the crisis in Niger saying “no option had been taken off the table”, including the use of force.
2:10pm: Crucial to prioritise diplomacy in Niger crisis, says ECOWAS chair
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who chairs West African regional bloc ECOWAS, said on Thursday it was crucial to prioritise diplomacy in seeking a return to constitutional governance in Niger following a July 26 coup.
“We prioritise diplomatic negotiations and dialogue as the bedrock of our approach,” Tinubu said during the opening remarks at the start of a summit of ECOWAS heads of state on the Niger crisis.
1:42pm: West African heads of state begin closed-door talks on Niger
West African leaders gathered in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Thursday for an emergency summit on Niger, where the heads of a military coup have defied demands to reinstate the country’s elected president.
The talks among ECOWAS leaders are taking place four days after its demand to return President Mohamed Bazoum to office or else face potential military intervention expired.
9:31am: Any military intervention in Niger would lead to a ‘ripple effect’
FRANCE 24’s Chinwe Ossondu, reporting from Lagos, Nigeria, discussed potential outcomes from ECOWAS’s second emergency summit on the situation in Niger on Thursday.
“We’re expecting that the heads of state of the members of ECOWAS are going to revisit this decision [of military intervention] and have a rethink because it has been opposed by international bodies both at home and abroad and also by Nigerians and some citizens and opinion leaders in the West African state,” Ossondu said.
Any military intervention in Niger would lead to a “ripple effect” and “it cannot be afforded at this time”, Ossondu added.
Ossondu added that the meeting between Nigerian spiritual leader Lamido Muhammad Sanusi and Nigerien coup leader General Tiani on Wednesday offered “some sign of hope [for a diplomatic path]”.
Click on the video below to watch her report in full.
03:56
9:10am: Niger junta announces new govt, names 21 ministers on state TV
Niger’s coup leaders have formed a new government, according to the country’s new strongman, General Abdourahamane Tiani, who read out a statement on national television on Wednesday night.
The 21-member government, announced just before an emergency summit of Niger’s West African neighbours in Abuja on Thursday, is headed by Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine and includes 20 ministers, including the defence and interior ministers.
5:28am: UN’s Guterres ‘very concerned’ over Bazoum detention conditions
The United Nations chief on Wednesday expressed grave concern over what he called the “deplorable” conditions of Niger leader Mohamed Bazoum’s detainment and called for his release.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced “the deplorable living conditions that President Bazoum and his family are reported to be living under”, according to a UN statement.
CNN reported Wednesday that Bazoum was being kept isolated and forced to eat dry rice and pasta by the rebels who overthrew him in a coup late last month.
In a series of text messages Bazoum sent to a friend, the president said he had been “deprived of all human contact since Friday”, with no one supplying him food or medicine, the network reported.
3:55am: Crucial ECOWAS summit to take place after ultimatum to putchists ignored
Leaders from West African bloc ECOWAS will meet on Thursday for an emergency summit on the coup in Niger, after the country’s military chiefs defied an ultimatum to restore the elected president.
Two weeks after the coup that toppled Mohamed Bazoum, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) says it is seeking a diplomatic solution but has not ruled out using force to resolve the crisis.
Important decisions are expected from the gathering in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, according to a statement from the 15-nation organisation on Tuesday.
Struggling to stem a cascade of coups among its members since 2020, the bloc gave the troops who seized power on July 26 until last Sunday to reinstate Bazoum or face the potential use of force.
Coup leaders remained defiant, however, and the deadline passed without action.
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The possibility of a military intervention in Niger, a fragile nation that ranks among the world’s poorest, has sparked debate within ECOWAS and warnings from neighbouring Algeria and Russia.
Key developments from Wednesday, August 9:
Niger’s junta met with two envoys of Nigerian President and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) chair Bola Tinubu in the capital Niamey on Wednesday, a Nigerian government source said. It remains unclear what was discussed during the meetings.
The French government rejects accusations by Niger’s new military rulers that it freed “terrorists” and violated the country’s air space, a government source said Wednesday. Niamey accused France of having released several jihadists and of allowing a military plane to take off despite an ongoing air space closure.
Read yesterday’s live blog to see how the day’s events unfolded.
