Niamey [Niger], August 5: West African defence chiefs have drawn up a plan for military action if Niger's coup is not overturned by Sunday, the regional bloc said on Friday, after mediation failed in a crisis that threatens regional security and has drawn in global powers.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has given Niger's coup leaders until Sunday to step down and reinstate elected President Mohamed Bazoum.
The bloc has taken a hard stance on last week's takeover, the seventh coup in West and Central Africa since 2020.
Given its uranium and oil riches and pivotal role in the war with Islamist rebels in the Sahel region, Niger has strategic significance for the United States, China, Europe and Russia.
Under the intervention plan, the decision of when and where to strike will be made by heads of states and will not be divulged to the coup plotters, Abdel-FatauMusah, ECOWAS commissioner for political affairs, peace and security, said.
"All the elements that will go into any eventual intervention have been worked out here, including the resources needed, the how and when we are going deploy the force," he said at the close of a three-day meeting in Nigeria's capital Abuja.
Whatever option the 15-nation body choses risks further conflict in one of the poorest regions of the world where groups linked to Islamic State and al Qaeda thrive on chaos.
It is not clear how much support the bloc has. Neighbouring Chad, which is not a part of ECOWAS but whose military leader President MahamatIdrissDeby played a role in mediation efforts this week, said it would not intervene militarily.
"We always advocate dialogue between Nigeriens and we will never intervene by military means," Chad's defence minister General Daoud Yaya Brahim told national television on Friday.
ECOWAS has already imposed sanctions on Niger and sent a delegation to its capital Niamey on Thursday seeking an "amicable resolution". But a source in the entourage said that they were rebuffed and did not stay long.
"We want diplomacy to work, and we want this message clearly transmitted to them that we are giving them every opportunity to reverse what they have done," Musah said.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu told his government to prepare for options including deployment of military personnel, in a letter read out to the Senate on Friday. Senegal has also said it would send troops.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
