West African regional bloc ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) on Wednesday said it sent a delegation to Niger to negotiate with the coup leaders who seized power last week, adding that military intervention in the junta-led country was “the last option”.
“(The) military option is the very last option on the table, the last resort, but we have to prepare for the eventuality,” said Abdel-Fatau Musah, ECOWAS commissioner for political affairs, peace and security.
Nigeria, the current chair of ECOWAS and West Africa’s military and economic superpower, has vowed to take a firm line against coups that have proliferated across the region since 2020, most of them the outcome of a bloody jihadist insurgency.
The regional bloc on Sunday imposed trade and financial sanctions and gave the coup leaders a week to reinstate Niger’s democratically elected president or face potential use of force.
Nigeria cuts electricity to Niger following coup
Nigeria has cut its electricity supply to Niger after West African neighbours imposed sanctions on the junta that ousted the country’s elected leader last week, a Niger power company source has told AFP.
“Since yesterday, Nigeria has disconnected the high-voltage line transporting electricity to Niger,” a source at Niger’s power company Nigelec said.
Niger depends on Nigeria for 70 percent of its power.
West African bloc sends delegation to Niger to negotiate with junta
A Nigerian-led delegation from West African regional bloc ECOWAS is in Niger “to negotiate” with the coup leaders who seized power last week, Abdel-Fatau Musah, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, has said.
Musah said the delegation was led by Abdulsalami Abubakar, a former military ruler of Nigeria who oversaw a transition to civilian rule in the late 1990s.
France 24
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