When the Nigerian president, Bola Tinubu, was elected as chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) on July 10, he asserted that the organisation would no longer be a “toothless bulldog”.
But the leader of the coup that toppled Niger’s president said Wednesday that French citizens had no reason to leave the country, but rejected international sanctions, vowing not to bow to “threats”.
Within a month, however, the democratically elected leader of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, was overthrown by his own palace guard.
Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) leaders have imposed trade and financial sanctions and threatened the use of force if the junta does not restore ousted President Mohamed Bazoum by Sunday.
As Tinubu noted when taking on the leadership of Ecowas, coups and counter-coups have become commonplace within the region in recent years. Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso (twice in eight months) have all experienced military takeovers that have ousted their elected governments.
Responding to the international sanctions imposed in response to the coup, General Abdourahamane Tiani said the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) “rejects these sanctions as a whole and refuses to give in to any threat, wherever it comes from”.
Now the same fate has befallen Niger, where the election of Bazoum in April 2021 was considered to be a rare case of successful and democratic transition of power in west Africa.
cynical and iniquitous
Speaking in a televised address, General Tiani said the sanctions were “cynical and iniquitous” and designed to “humiliate” the defence and security forces and Niger, and make the country “ungovernable”.
The coup – which installed the former leader of the presidential guard, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, as leader – has been roundly condemned by the US, France, the EU and the United Nations. The US, which has has had troops in Niger for more than a decade advising the country’s military on counter-terrorism, said it would “take measures” to restore democratic government in the country.
French people in Niger had never been subjected “to the least threat”, he added. Democratically elected Bazoum, 63, was overthrown on July 26 when members of his own guard detained him at the presidency.
On July 30, Ecowas issued a seven-day ultimatum vowing to use force to dislodge the junta should they not restore Bazoum to the presidency.
“We refuse any interference in the internal affairs of Niger,” General Tiani said in a speech made on the eve of the country’s independence day.
Ecowas has also closed its countries’ borders with Niger, instituted a no-fly zone, and frozen the country’s assets and those of those involved in the coup and their families.
He reiterated in the speech that the deterioration of security in Niger had prompted the military to seize power.
Source
Niger junta chief rejects sanctions, refuses to 'give in' to threats https://t.co/8WpleLAUBb#MonitorUpdates
— Daily Monitor (@DailyMonitor) August 3, 2023
Content created and supplied by: allay (via Opera
News )
