A multitude of supporters endorsing the Niger coup flooded the streets on Friday, protesting against the intentions of West African nations to deploy a military force into the country, as a key regional meeting focused on potential intervention was abruptly cancelled.
The ECOWAS had shown the green light for a ‘standby force to work towards the reinstatement of President Mohamed Bazoum, who was elected. The EU’s highest-ranking diplomat has voiced worries about the conditions of Bazoum’s detention since his removal by his guard members on July 26.
According to regional military sources, the chiefs of staff representing member states of the West African bloc were scheduled to convene a meeting in Accra, the capital of Ghana, on Saturday.
Later on, they said that the meeting had been suspended indefinitely, citing ‘technical reasons.’
The sources stated that the meeting was initially convened to inform the organisation’s leaders about ‘the best options’ for activating and deploying the standby force.
ECOWAS has not yet furnished specific details regarding the force or a concrete timetable for its deployment, while the leaders continue to underscore their preference for a peaceful resolution.
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The abrupt cancellation came as a multitude of coup supporters protested near a French military base in Niger on Friday.
Protesters near the base on the outskirts of the capital Niamey shouted ‘Down with France, down with ECOWAS’.
The newly established leadership in Niger has pointed fingers at France, a former colonial power and a close ally of Bazoum, asserting that France is the catalyst behind the stringent stance taken by ECOWAS regarding the coup.
Among the protesters, numerous individuals proudly displayed Russian and Niger flags, voicing their strong support for the country’s emerging strong leader, General Abdourahamane Tiani.
‘We are going to make the French leave! ECOWAS isn’t independent, it’s being manipulated by France,’ said one demonstrator, Aziz Rabeh Ali, a member of a students’ union.
As part of a broader effort to counter an extended eight-year jihadist insurgency, France has stationed roughly 1,500 troops in Niger.
The Sahel region has seen a rise in hostility towards France, prompting the withdrawal of its anti-jihadist forces from Mali and Burkina Faso last year after disputes with military regimes that ousted democratically elected leaders.
As of last week, Niger’s newly established leadership discontinued defence agreements with France, and a confrontational protest outside the French embassy in Niamey on July 30 drove the French government to conduct an evacuation of its citizens.