The meeting of the chiefs of staff of the armed forces of the countries of the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) that was supposed to occur soon has been suspended indefinitely for “technical reasons.” According to the Egyptian Al Ahram daily, the meeting was supposed to take place in Ghana’s capital Accra. Citing unnamed sources, Al Ahram wrote that the meeting was originally set up to inform the organization’s leaders about “the best options” for activating and deploying a standby force for intervention into Niger.
There is public dissension among ECOWAS member nations. Cabo Verde President Jose Maria Neves said that his country opposed military action, was unlikely to join a potential military operation in Niger, according to TASS. He said, “We all should work to restore constitutional order in Niger but in no way through a military intervention or an armed conflict at this point. We should actively engage in talks and resolve issues diplomatically because any military intervention will make the situation worse, turning the region into an explosive zone,” reported Agence France-Presse.
ECOWAS also released a statement that it does not believe that the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) was involved in Niger’s coup. That evaluation was attributed to ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace, and Security Abdel-Fatau Musah, according to Al Jazeera. Musah also reported that ECOWAS would not allow anyone to turn West Africa into the scene of a proxy war.
In Niger, itself, thousands of pro-military demonstrators took to the streets this week, and held a protest near the French military base on the outskirts of the capital, Niamey. They were reportedly shouting, “Down with France! Down with ECOWAS!”
