ECOWAS calls for diplomatic means to restore Niger president

Abuja/Niamey — Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu said West African leaders should try all diplomatic routes to ensure a swift return to constitutional rule in Niger, including dialogue with the coup leaders there, as a summit of heads of state began on Thursday.

In his role as chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Tinubu kicked off the summit in the Nigerian capital Abuja by saying that it was crucial to prioritise diplomacy as the bedrock of the bloc’s approach.

“We must engage all parties involved, including the coup leaders, in earnest discussions to convince them to relinquish power and reinstate President (Mohamed) Bazoum,” Tinubu said in opening remarks to the assembled heads of state.

“It is our duty to exhaust all avenues of engagement to ensure a swift return to constitutional governance in Niger,” he said, describing the July 26 coup as a threat to the stability of the entire West African region.

So far, the coup leaders in Niamey have given little sign that they were prepared to back down or even engage in negotiations. They defied an August 6 deadline set by ECOWAS to reinstate Bazoum, instead closing Niger’s airspace and vowing to defend the country against any foreign incursion.

After Tinubu’s remarks, the West African leaders went into a private negotiating session, during which they were expected to consider plans drawn up last week by defence chiefs for a potential armed intervention in Niger, among other options.

Any escalation would further destabilise West Africa’s Sahel region, one of the world’s poorest, where a long-running Islamist insurgency that spread from Mali has displaced millions over the past decade and stoked a hunger crisis.

Until the coup, Niger had fared better than its neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso in stemming the violence. It had also become an important Western ally for fighting insurgents after juntas seized power in the other two countries between 2020 and 2022 and cut ties with traditional partners.

Hours before the summit in Abuja, coup leaders named a new government in an apparent move to entrench their position and present themselves as a legitimate government for Niger.

Mahamane Roufai Laouali, cited as “secretary-general of the government”, named 21 ministers on state television overnight without specifying any further government plans. Three leaders of the military takeover were named ministers of defence, interior and sports.

Former finance minister Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine, who had been named prime minister on Monday, was appointed finance minister for the new government. Niger’s previous government had 43 ministers and none were military officers.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres voiced concern about Bazoum and his family after his party reported that they were being detained at the presidential residence without electricity or running water, and had gone days without fresh food

Reuters