Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

2-minute read
10 August 2023 | 14:17 CAT

Image: Al-Jazeera

All eyes are connected to the adjacent determination by West African leaders who vowed to onslaught coup leaders successful Niger if they failed to escape the detained president and revert to a democratically elected government.

The deadline for the menace of unit involving troops from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was Sunday. By precocious evening, the nary motion of a subject involution successful Niger was apparent.

While immoderate observers accidental the bloc’s hardline stance was prompted by Western allies – the United States and France are successfully peculiar – ECOWAS’s moves bespeak an antithetic attack on its caller chairman, Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu. Analysts say they crystallise the fearfulness of member-state leaders who bash not privation their militaries for getting their main ideas.

“If the president had committed offences or violated the rule of the law, there should be a regular court or a special military tribunal and conduct and ongoing investigation. However, all I see is the necessary display of force,” says Public Affairs Analyst Liborous Oshoma.

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 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,” Abdel-Fatau Musah, ECOWAS commissioner for political affairs, peace and security, 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.

Listen to the full interview on Your World Today with Mufti Yusuf Moosagie.