West African nations on Friday suspended a key military meeting on the crisis in Niger, a day after saying they would muster a “standby” force in their bid to reinstate the country’s deposed leader.

Fears also mounted for elected President Mohamed Bazoum, who was ousted by members of his guard on July 26, with reports saying his detention conditions were deteriorating.

Chiefs of staff from West African ECOWAS bloc countries were set to attend a meeting on Saturday in Ghana’s capital Accra, regional military sources had said on Friday.

But they later said that it had been suspended indefinitely for “technical reasons”.

The sources said the meeting was originally set up to inform the organisation’s leaders about “the best options” for activating and deploying the standby force.

ECOWAS has yet to provide details on the force or a timetable for action, and the leaders have emphasised they still want a peaceful solution.

The last-minute cancellation came as thousands of coup supporters rallied near a French military base in Niger on Friday.
Protesters near the base on the outskirts of the capital Niamey shouted “down with France, down with ECOWAS”.

Niger’s new leaders have accused ex-colonial power France, a close Bazoum ally, of being behind the hardline ECOWAS stance against the coup.

Many brandished Russian and Niger flags and shouted their support for the country’s new strongman, General Abdourahamane Tiani.

“We are going to make the French leave! ECOWAS isn’t independent, it’s being manipulated by France,” said one demonstrator, Aziz Rabeh Ali, a member of a students’ union.

France has around 1,500 personnel in Niger as part of a force battling an eight-year jihadist insurgency.

It is facing growing hostility across the Sahel, withdrawing its anti-jihadist forces from neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso last year after falling out with military governments that ousted elected leaders.

The European Union and African Union (AU) joined others in sounding the alarm for Bazoum on Friday.

“Bazoum and his family, according to the latest information, have been deprived of food, electricity and medical care for several days,” said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

UN rights chief Volker Turk said Bazoum’s reported detention conditions “could amount to inhuman and degrading treatment, in violation of international human rights law”.

The AU said “such treatment of a democratically elected president” was “unacceptable”.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned that the “coup plotters must face harsh consequences should anything happen” to Bazoum or his family.

A source close to Bazoum said “he’s OK, but the conditions are very difficult”. The coup leaders had threatened to assault him in the event of military intervention, the source added.

Human Rights Watch said it had spoken to Bazoum earlier this week. The 63-year-old described the treatment of himself, his wife and their 20-year-old son as “inhuman and cruel”, HRW said.

“I’m not allowed to receive my family members (or) my friends who have been bringing food and other supplies to us,” the group quoted him as saying.

“My son is sick, has a serious heart condition, and needs to see a doctor,” he was quoted as saying. “They’ve refused to let him get medical treatment.”

Under pressure to stem a cascade of coups among its members, ECOWAS had previously issued a seven-day ultimatum to the coup leaders to return Bazoum to power.

But they defied the deadline, which expired on Sunday without any action being taken.

The coup leaders have since named a new government, which met for the first time on Friday.

Troubled Region
Since 1990, the 15-country bloc has intervened among six of its members at times of civil war, insurrection or political turmoil.
But the possibility of intervention in deeply fragile Niger has sparked debate within its ranks and warnings from neighbouring Algeria as well as from Russia.

Moscow, whose influence in the region has grown, said a military solution “could lead to a protracted confrontation” in Niger and “a sharp destabilisation” across the Sahel.

The president of ECOWAS member Cape Verde, Jose Maria Neves, spoke out against a military intervention on Friday and said his country was unlikely to participate in such a campaign.

Military-ruled ECOWAS nations Mali and Burkina Faso have warned an intervention would be a “declaration of war” on their countries.

General Salifou Mody, Niger’s new defence minister, made a brief visit to Mali on Friday, according to a Malian presidential adviser speaking on condition of anonymity.

The coup is Niger’s fifth since the landlocked country gained independence from France in 1960.

Like Mali and Burkina Faso, the country is struggling with a brutal jihadist insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives, forced many people from their homes and undermined faith in government.

https://www.channelstv.com/2023/08/11/west-african-countries-suspend-key-military-meeting-on-niger-coup/
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They must have sense by force...!!
Imagine been puppets of bloody France...!!!
The fire They are inviting would consume the whole ECOWAS sub region...!!!

Very useless idiots...!!!

Fake

Lol. Zombies will cry blood now
They were hiding under ecowas to front war with Niger.
Maybe they can send Asari to Niger to recover their god's badly battered international image.
What the hell is standby force and when was it commissioned?
Long live Niger jare
May the coup favour Nigeriens and their families

Only Tinubu and his supporters want war and invasion

WE DO NOT WANT WAR.

WE WANT A PEACEFUL RESOLUTION TO THE CRISIS.

Tinubu in the mud yet again

Mumu man

Tinubu wants to use the west African country to fight Niger war but they finally realised his evil game and back down .

Tinubu should recruit his agbado miscreants to fight his war alone and leave night and other west Africa countries out of it.

Good, I personally think this Junta forces should be allowed to rule the country, though they should free the captives

Ok

Wise move

Don't be a puppet for the West, don't kill fellow Africans to suit the colonial masters

Let Niger sort out itself and allow sanctions and blockades to do the rest

Attack their stomach instead of the army and the people and watch the same people singing the praises of the putschist calling for their heads soon.

Best way to go! No be this 1 Nigeria won form Russia of West Africa. Na country when stand the go war.

Ebola is on his own.

We don't want his body but his brain, in the mud

Confused people….
Agbodarians and asiri men should team up and invade Niger….they should not mind tinubu and ECOWAS or whatever.

They are cowards. The ebola guy wants to stampede us into unecessary war

Allow Niger to breathe. Let them decide what they want.

Nobody::
Tinubu: lonely at the top, gben gben gben gben gben gbe
Foolish lunatic cow..
Your house is on fire, you dey call fire brigade for another person house

When it is said the balabloo-blu-bulava cocaine and heroin drug sniffing illegitimate president is just itchy as the agbero agbadorian thug that he is, his zombies mistaken it for being strategic. Niger Republic is a sovereign nation. Leave them alone you dey flex muscle we you never flex for ordinary bandits

Majority of the people of Niger are with the military, it's going to be extremely difficult to overcome such a resolve except you actually want to kill the civilians.


My question then goes thus: If majority want the military, what then is the problem of outsiders?

Peace not War

The best strategy of war is without guns

Better. Niger is a sovereign state. They may leave ecowas or AU if they so wish. Its a voluntary organisation or union anyway. Morocco left the the OAU in the 80s and heaven didn't fall. They remained even stronger and better economically. Today, Morocco is among best developed countries in Africa, ranking far ahead of Nigeria. Google will put doubting thomases where they belong.

Enough of brouhaha about Niger. Their people are in support of the coup. The army said they'd speed up transition to civil rule. That is encouraging enough. Buhari and his allies took over power by coup in the 80s and nobody sent army to Nigeria. Today, democracy has returned and we've been in it for over 2 decades with little or nothing to show. How many private hospitals did we have in the military era? Its because our public hospitals were well run. Abdulsalaam Abubakar commissioned the National Hospital, one of the nation's prides today. The military built the federal medical centres. Public schools were the best cos of infrastructure. The reverse is the case today. How many fed hospitals had the fed govt built since 1999 under democracy?

Sadly, Nigeria hadn't witnessed much development than when the military was in power btw 99 and now. Military did far more projects than what the civilian administration has done and records have shown. If not their brutal style of rule, I prefer them to all these corrupt politicians shouting Hais and Nays in the NA.

When the 3rd mainland bridge was being commissioned, I was like, who gave these people the vision they had? Meanwhile, they've been shouting 4th mainland bridge since 1999 during election period. Naira was so strong back then. Nigerian universities hardly went on strike because they were well run..there was discipline everywhere. But the west never liked it cos they didnt have access to our resources to steal from. Military would do projects without making noise. What they're stealing today individually is more than what ahacha stole. Mr emilokan alone has several accounts in foreign banks.

Those shouting democracy back in the days only became beneficiary of it at the expense of the masses they claim they were fighting for. We can see how many private jets one single person had today. We can see how a super corrupt fellow with the efcc case dangling on his neck is becoming number 3 person in Nigeria today. Is that what's called democracy? Is that the way its being practiced elsewhere? Someone should remind me of the dollar rate today, what they once said was not okay at 250 naira. They're not even talking about it anymore. Nigeria is such a funny country. They'd leave leprosy and be treating eczema. Things they're supposed to stage a nationwide protest over, they'd be defending , out of sentiments. I wonder if being sentimental would put food at their table. How on earth would 1,000 naira which used to be exchanged for 10,000 cefa a few years ago become so worthless that the same cefa has now overtaken it in value. Is that a good omen?.

Obasanjo met crude at about 30usd a barrel,managed the economy with a good team and our naira was as strong as ever. They accused Jonathan of corruption and mismanagement of the economy, gained power via propaganda. They said he enjoyed oil boom for 2 years but squandered the money. He squandered the money but most of his laudable projects which he'd have completed had he done a 2nd term were being completed by the apc in 8 years. We've been enjoying good crude sale for a reasonable period of time now but they're not saying anything. In spite of all these , naira keeps falling in value. They said you guys should be using gas to fuel your car and operate your generator but never led by example. They still travel in convoys all over.

These people had done worse things that could cause military to come back to power and if care isn't taken, nothing is impossible. They could still come back and if they do, we should hold all these thieves in power responsible. Retiring a large number of general compulsorily as tinubu did recently which still angers the affected can't stop coup plans. The onus is on the government to do the needful by letting the poor breathe. His economic policies aren't working. I learnt he invited Okonjo Iweala recently. He should do more. Its about developing Nigeria which should be a collective agenda. He should stop chasing shadows.

Apc said it was aboki fx who was responsible for the free fall of naira , later they said it was BDCs, later they fingered commercial banks whom they've stopped disbursing fx to. Now, they're saying its the diversion of diaspora remittance to the bdcs that caused naira to lose value, they also blamed emefiele as if he's still the cbn governor...those sending money home from abroad didnt start doing so yesyerday. I remember the era of western union, money gram, etc. Once you received money through them, you'd go to bdcs to chahge it to naira yet, it never affected naira value. People are asking for a reduction in their excesses but they care less. If coup takes place today, I'd just say its long overdue. Last week, over 25 military voluntarily retired due to poor remuneration and welfare. But those they're defending are living large, sharing allowances for a vacation. It's well with Nigeria. We're still sleeping

These ones keep giving themselves sleepless night over what doesn't concern them while the junta's are enjoying themselves with Russian fried rice and chicken.

No ECOWAS army can defeat Niger army backed by their people. Immediately ECOWAS invade Niger. Their army will swell from 30 thousands troops to 500, thousands troops in a matter of days. Which will crush ECOWAS troops.

Someone should receive sense now!

ECOWAS, please engage in a peaceful dialogue with the coup leaders, the support of the citizens they're gaining actually means something is wrong somewhere with governance in that country, force won't be the best approach here.

GodHatesBigots:

https://www.channelstv.com/2023/08/11/west-african-countries-suspend-key-military-meeting-on-niger-coup/

Where the 20milluon agbado armies..? They can crush Niger in 24hrs..
The fear of Russia can reset brains.
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