TheCable

Chiefs of defence staff of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are meeting in Abuja over the coup in the Niger Republic.

The meeting is being attended by army chiefs of 10 countries, including Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo, Liberia, Ghana, Gambia, Cote D’Ivoire, Cape Verde, Benin and Senegal.

Those absent from the meeting are Mali, Niger, Guinea, Guinea Bissau and Burkina Faso.

In a statement on Tuesday night, ECOWAS said the meeting of the chief of defence staff followed the decision of the authority of heads of state and government at their extraordinary session held on July 30 in Abuja.

Following a tense 48 hours of political upheaval in Niamey, Niger’s capital, Abdourahamane Tiani, a general and former head of ousted President Mohamed Bazoum’s presidential guard, declared himself as the new head of state.

Tiani said the intervention had been necessary to avoid “the gradual and inevitable demise” of the country, and that while Bazoum had sought to convince people that “all is going well… the harsh reality (is) a pile of dead, displaced, humiliation and frustration”.

On Sunday, leaders of ECOWAS imposed sanctions on Niger and gave the coup plotters a week ultimatum to hand over power to the democratically elected government.

The Nigerien army had earlier warned against foreign military intervention, adding that it might have “disastrous and uncontrolled consequences”.

On Tuesday, Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea backed the coup leaders in Niger, threatening war if ECOWAS intervenes.