ECOWAS Military Has No Business In Niger Over Coup – Prof Aning

The standby military force of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) was formed to quell civil wars and not to meddle in the internal politics of member states, the Director of the Faculty of Academic Affairs and Research at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), Professor Kwesi Aning, has said.

In view of that, he says it would be wrong for the regional bloc to deploy soldiers to Niger after a military junta seized power on July 26.

Niger’s army deposed the country’s democratically elected President, Mohamed Bazoum, attracting widespread international condemnation.

Consequently, Ecowas issued an ultimatum to the coup masterminds to restore the deposed president back to office.
Ecowas further imposed economic sanctions, including the closure of neighbouring borders to the landlocked country and a cut in electricity supply to Niger.

However, the Niger military has ignored the order and refused the audience to delegations from the UN, AU and Ecowas, with heightened security in landlocked countries.

This has prompted Ecowas to activate its standby force, ready for orders to intervene.

But this action has been condemned by many analysts who believe diplomacy should be employed rather than force.

The latest to condemn the actions of Ecowas is Professor Aning, who said: “The standby force idea was also to respond first and foremost to civil wars and not to constitutional changes or internal political misunderstandings where there is massive bye-in as to what is happening. I mean, there’s no conflict in Niger per se”.

He was of the view that “there rather ought to be a graduated set of responses as an internal crisis escalates”.

“If you look at the mechanism Article 28, 1, it specifies the processes for force generation. That has not been followed. Quite a number of these decision-making processes and procedures have been hopped over, and then we have taken the decision of last resort,” he explained in an interview on Joy FM’s Newsfile over the weekend.

It is the sixth coup across West Africa within three years in a wave of anti-French sentiments.

Many French colonies accuse France of undue influence and control, leading to the marginalization of African citizens.

The concerns have resulted in a wave of military takeovers.

The situation in Niger is dicey as Mali and Burkina Faso – two other former French colonies, have thrown their support, pledging to send soldiers in defence of the Niger military junta if Ecowas deploys its standby force.

As the French-speaking countries denounce France and the West, they have turned to Russia, which they see as a better ally.