ECOWAS – In response to the coup in the Niger Republic, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has imposed further sanctions. This was disclosed on Tuesday by the head of the regional organisation, President Bola Tinubu, via his spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale.
As part of the ECOWAS’ attempts to restore democracy there, Nigeria cut off the daily supply of 150 megawatts of electricity to the Niger Republic on Wednesday. Prior to this, the ECOWAS had given the military in Nigerien seven days to restore President Mohamed Bazoum or face penalties, including potential military intervention.
The junta, though, had called the regional bloc’s bluff and pledged to thwart any outside meddling. In addition, the military authorities cut links with Nigeria, Togo, France, and the United States. They also permanently closed the Nigerien airspace.
The ECOWAS had set a second meeting for tomorrow to discuss the situation in Niger after the ultimatum’s expiration. Speaking to State House reporters yesterday, Tinubu’s spokesman announced that more sanctions had been placed on people and organisations connected to the Niger junta. He did not go into detail about the new restrictions, but he did say that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was in charge of them.
According to Ngelale:
I can also report that following the expiration of the deadline of the ultimatum and standing on the pre-existing consensus position of financial sanctions meted out on the military junta in Niger Republic by the bloc of ECOWAS Heads of State, His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered an additional slew of financial sanctions through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on entities and individuals related to or involved with the military junta in Niger Republic.
The ECOWAS mandate, and ultimatum is not a Nigerian ultimatum. It is not a Nigerian mandate and the office of His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, also serving as the chairman of ECOWAS, seeks to emphasise this point that, due to certain domestic and international media coverage, tending towards a personalisation of the ECOWAS sub regional position to his person and to our nation individually.
It is because of this that Mr. President has deemed it necessary to state unequivocally that the mandate and ultimatum issued by ECOWAS is that of ECOWAS’s position. While His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has assumed the ECOWAS chairmanship, the position of ECOWAS conveys the consensus position of member heads of state. And a coup will not occur in one’s backyard without one being particularly aware of it.
The president in recent days, particularly following the expiration of the ultimatum given by ECOWAS has widened consultations internationally, but most especially domestically, including interfaces with state governors in Nigeria who govern states bordering Niger Republic on the various fallouts and outcomes of the unfortunate situation that has unfolded in Niger Republic.
But President Bola Ahmed Tinubu wishes to emphasise to this distinguished audience that the response of ECOWAS to the military coup in Niger has been and will remain devoid of ethnic and religious sentiments and considerations.
The regional bloc is made up of all sub regional ethnic groups, religious groups, and all other forms of human diversity. And the response of ECOWAS, therefore, represents all of these groups, and not any of these groups individually.
The exceptional ECOWAS conference tomorrow, according to the presidential spokesman, will result in significant decisions regarding the events in Niger. He pointed out that Tinubu had stated that diplomacy is the best course of action in his capacity as the chairman of ECOWAS and that he and his fellow members of the group favoured a settlement by peaceful and diplomatic methods in the interim, pending any decision at the Thursday emergency summit. Ngelale highlighted that “no option has been taken off the table.“
Due to safety concerns, we can’t accept a diplomatic visit – Niger junta
The most recent diplomatic mission from African nations to restore constitutional order following the July 26 coup was denied yesterday by Niger’s military commanders. According to the BBC, the military authorities said that there would be a risk to the visitors’ security if they allowed a high-level diplomatic visit.
IN CASE YOU MISSED: ECOWAS Chairman, Tinubu Calls For a New Meeting After Niger Junta Ignores 7-Day Deadline.
A delegation from ECOWAS, the African Union, and the United Nations was scheduled to travel to the Niger Republic yesterday, but the junta prevented them from arriving because of popular unrest sparked by the sanctions and the fear of an invasion from the regional bloc. The military authorities reportedly claimed that both the land and air borders of Niger were closed.
The heads of the Nigerien military had already refused meetings with a top American diplomat and another ECOWAS group that attempted to mediate.
When Victoria Nuland, the acting deputy secretary of state for the United States, arrived in Niamey on Monday, she was not given permission to speak with either the detained Bazoum or military leader Abdourahamane Tiani. She instead had a two-hour conversation with other army officers.
These conversations were extremely frank and at times quite difficult, because, again, we’re pushing for a negotiated solution. They are quite firm in their view of how they want to proceed, and it does not comport with the constitution of Niger
– Nuland told reporters.
Former Nigerian military leader Abdulsalami Abubakar led a mission from ECOWAS to Niamey earlier, but Tiani also declined to meet with him. A joint team from Mali and Burkina Faso, two adjacent nations where the military has usurped civilian authority, met with Tiani on Monday. The coup in Niger has received the support of the local juntas.
Military intervention in Niger is not acceptable to us. Abdoulaye Maiga, a representative for the Mali junta who was shown on state television in Niger, stated, “Our survival depends on it.
Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, a former economy minister, was appointed as the nation’s new prime minister by Niger’s military authorities on Monday night. Zeine formerly served as the economy and finance minister in the administration of former President Mamadou Tandja, who was removed in 2010.
Also claimed to have recently worked for the African Development Bank in Chad as an economist.
ACF instructs ECOWAS to lift sanctions and restart a full discussion with the junta.
Yesterday, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) urged ECOWAS to suspend its sanctions against the Niger Republic and praised Nigerian senators for opposing military action.
ACF Publicity Secretary Professor Tukur Muhammad-Baba called for greater communication with the Niger military junta in a statement to avoid a further breakdown of discussions after the earlier-given one-week deadline for the dictatorship to restore democratic rule in the nation had passed.
According to Professor Tukur Muhammad-Baba:
We at the ACF would like to reiterate our condemnation of the coup and demand that the personal safety of President Mohamed Bazoum and members of his government be guaranteed by the coup leaders.
Nigeria and Niger have had brotherly relations over the years and the ACF upon reviewing the latest political impasse, economic sanctions and expiration of the one-week deadline given to the military junta in Niger have come to the conclusion that dialogue remains the best option to avoid a catastrophic occurrence of events between the two nations and the West African sub-region. We should utilise all available goodwill, diplomatic, political, economic and human assets to win back the confidence of the people of Niger, who have, historically, come to regard Nigeria as a Big Brother!
Towards this end, and to boost confidence measures: The ACF urges President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and ECOWAS to review the situation and restore full dialogue with the Nigerien military junta through the immediate lifting of the economic blockade and other sanctions imposed on the country as a sign of goodwill to facilitate swift dialogue.
We call on President Tinubu and ECOWAS to revisit their approach to the Niger imbroglio based on concrete realities including the fact that most countries surrounding Niger Republic are not all in the ECOWAS region as Algeria, Libya and Chad may view a potential military aggression as a declaration of war against their borders. With Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinean military juntas also declaring support for the Niger coup leaders, the situation calls for caution so as not to further conflagrate the West African region.
He praised senators from the north for persuading their fellow senators to vehemently oppose using force against the Niger Republic.
We are particularly appreciative of the upper chamber of our National Assembly for toeing the line of a peaceful approach to the resolution of the potentially catastrophic conflict.
We strongly call on our government to intensify efforts towards further exploitation of peaceful, political and diplomatic measures to find a solution to the problem.
– Professor Tukur Muhammad-Baba
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